Home automation control based on individualized detector profiling

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are methods, systems, and non-transitory, machine-readable media that facilitates home automation control based on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxide detectors. Audio characteristics may be determined based on first sensor data. Attributes may be defined based on the audio characteristics. Second audio characteristics may be determined based on the second sensor data. Second attributes may be defined based on the second audio characteristics. Third sensor data may be analyzed to identify a first alarm or a second alarm based on a volume and/or a directionality determined based on the third sensor data. Consequent to identifying the first alarm or the second alarm, a home automation rule may be determined. The home automation rule may include an operational setting of a home automation device. The home automation device may be instructed based on the determined home automation rule via a home automation network.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates in general to home automation, and, morespecifically, but not by way of limitation, to home automation controlbased on individualized detector profiling.

Many home devices and user interactions with such devices have remainedunchanged for decades. For instance, a high level of carbon monoxide ina room of a home is typically detected only by a local detector pluggedinto electrical outlet in that room. However, as value, use, and demandcorresponding to home automation continue to increase, consumers havecome to expect more flexible and useful features. Companies are expectedto compete to provide more flexible product and service offerings.

There is a need in the home automation space to provide enhanced toxicgas detection and related home automation control features. This andother needs are addressed by the present disclosure.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates in general to home automation, and, morespecifically, but not by way of limitation, to home automation controlbased on individualized detector profiling.

In one aspect, a method for home automation control based at least inpart on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxidedetectors is disclosed. The method may include any one or combination ofthe following. First sensor data may be received by a control devicefrom a set of one or more audio sensors in operative communication withthe control device. A first set of audio characteristics may bedetermined by the control device based at least in part on the firstsensor data. A first set of attributes may be defined by the controldevice based at least in part on the first set of audio characteristicsand storing the first set of attributes in association with a firstidentifier of a first detector located remotely from the control deviceat a first location. Second sensor data may be received by the controldevice from the set of one or more audio sensors. A second set of audiocharacteristics may be determined by the control device based at leastin part on the second sensor data. A second set of attributes may bedefined by the control device based at least in part on the second setof audio characteristics. The second set of attributes may be stored inassociation with a second identifier of a second detector locatedremotely from the control device at a second location. Third sensor datamay be received by the control device from the set of one or more audiosensors. The third sensor data may be analyzed by the control device toidentify a first alarm of the first detector or a second alarm of thesecond detector based at least in part on a volume and/or adirectionality determined based at least in part on the third sensordata. Consequent to identifying the first alarm of the first detector orthe second alarm of the second detector, a home automation rule may bedetermined by the control device. The home automation rule may includean operational setting of a home automation device. The home automationdevice may be instructed by the control device based at least in part onthe determined home automation rule via a home automation network.

In another aspect, a system for home automation control based at leastin part on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxidedetectors is disclosed. The system may include a control deviceconfigured to communicatively couple to a set of one or more audiosensors. The control device may include one or more processors and amemory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or moreprocessors and having stored therein processor-readable instructionswhich, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one ormore processors to perform any one or cominbation of the following.First sensor data from the set of one or more audio sensors in operativecommunication with the control device may be processed. A first set ofaudio characteristics may be determined based at least in part on thefirst sensor data. A first set of attributes may be defined based atleast in part on the first set of audio characteristics and storing thefirst set of attributes in association with a first identifier of afirst detector located remotely from the control device at a firstlocation. Second sensor data from the set of one or more audio sensorsmay be processed. A second set of audio characteristics may bedetermined based at least in part on the second sensor data. A secondset of attributes may be defined based at least in part on the secondset of audio characteristics. The second set of attributes may be storedin association with a second identifier of a second detector locatedremotely from the control device at a second location. Third sensor datafrom the set of one or more audio sensors may be processed. The thirdsensor data may be analyzed to identify a first alarm of the firstdetector or a second alarm of the second detector based at least in parton a volume and/or a directionality determined based at least in part onthe third sensor data. Consequent to identifying the first alarm of thefirst detector or the second alarm of the second detector, a homeautomation rule may be determined. The home automation rule may includean operational setting of a home automation device. The home automationdevice may be instructed based at least in part on the determined homeautomation rule via a home automation network

In yet another aspect, disclosed is one or more non-transitory,machine-readable media having machine-readable instructions thereonwhich, when executed by one or more processing devices, facilitates homeautomation control based at least in part on individualized audiodifferentiation of carbon monoxide detectors, causing the one or moreprocessing devices to perform any one or combination of the following.First sensor data from a set of one or more audio sensors in operativecommunication with the control device may be processed. A first set ofaudio characteristics may be determined based at least in part on thefirst sensor data. A first set of attributes may be defined based atleast in part on the first set of audio characteristics. The first setof attributes may be stored in association with a first identifier of afirst detector located remotely from the control device at a firstlocation. Second sensor data from the set of one or more audio sensorsmay be processed. A second set of audio characteristics may bedetermined based at least in part on the second sensor data. A secondset of attributes may be defined based at least in part on the secondset of audio characteristics and storing the second set of attributes inassociation with a second identifier of a second detector locatedremotely from the control device at a second location. Third sensor datafrom the set of one or more audio sensors may be processed. The thirdsensor data may be analyzed to identify a first alarm of the firstdetector or a second alarm of the second detector based at least in parton a volume and/or a directionality determined based at least in part onthe third sensor data. Consequent to identifying the first alarm of thefirst detector or the second alarm of the second detector, a homeautomation rule may be determined. The home automation rule may includean operational setting of a home automation device. The home automationdevice may be instructed based at least in part on the determined homeautomation rule via a home automation network.

In various embodiments, an adjustment may be determined based at leastin part on the determined home automation rule. The instructing the homeautomation device may include causing the adjustment. In variousembodiments, transmission of a user notification to indicate an alarmcondition via one or more notification interfaces may be caused. Invarious embodiments, indicia of one or more user selectionscorresponding to one or more user-selection options may be processed.The instructing the home automation device may include causing anadjustment based in part on the one or more user selections.

In various embodiments, fourth sensor data from a second set of one ormore sensors may be received and processed. A presence of one or moreindividuals may be determined based at least in part on the fourthsensor data. The determining the home automation rule is based at leastin part on the determined presence of the one or more individuals. Invarious embodiments, the set of one or more audio sensors may includetwo or more audio sensors. In various embodiments, the control devicemay include the two or more audio sensors.

Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will becomeapparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It shouldbe understood that the detailed description and specific examples, whileindicating various embodiments, are intended for purposes ofillustration only and are not intended to necessarily limit the scope ofthe disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of variousembodiments may be realized by reference to the following figures. Inthe appended figures, similar components or features may have the samereference label. Further, various components of the same type may bedistinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. When only thefirst reference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a satellite television distributionsystem, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a home automation system hosted by atelevision receiver and/or an overlay device, in accordance with certainembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a television receiver configured tohost a home automation system, in accordance with certain embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a subsystem to facilitatepersonalized home automation control based at least in part onindividualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxide detectors, inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates certain aspects of a method for personalized homeautomation control based at least in part on individualized audiodifferentiation of carbon monoxide detectors, in accordance with certainembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a computer system, in accordancewith certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The ensuing description provides preferred exemplary embodiment(s) only,and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configurationof the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the preferredexemplary embodiment(s) will provide those skilled in the art with anenabling description for implementing a preferred exemplary embodimentof the disclosure. It should be understood that various changes may bemade in the function and arrangement of elements without departing fromthe disclosure as set forth in the appended claims.

Specific details are given in the following description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodimentsmaybe practiced without these specific details. For example, circuitsmay be shown in block diagrams in order not to obscure the embodimentsin unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits,processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown withoutunnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a processwhich is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, astructure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describethe operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can beperformed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of theoperations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when itsoperations are completed, but could have additional steps not includedin the figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, aprocedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process correspondsto a function, its termination corresponds to a return of the functionto the calling function or the main function.

The present disclosure is directed to systems, methods, apparatus, andprocessor-readable media for facilitating home automation control basedon individualized detector profiling. In certain embodiments accordingto the present disclosure, an alarm detector may be integrated with athermostat. In some embodiments, an alarm detector may be furtherintegrated into a home automation system, smoke detection system, orother alarm system. The integrated alarm detector may be configured todetect external detectors placed throughout a home. The integrated alarmdetector may be configured to listen for sounds generated by externaldetectors and to individually distinguish the external detectors bydetected audio characteristics. According to some embodiments, theintegrated alarm detector may control the furnace(s) in a house or placeof business if certain level of a toxic gas (e.g., carbon monoxide (CO))is detected. Notifications may be sent to multiple computing devices(e.g., smartphone), with user-selectable options to remotely control theintegrated device (adjust settings, clear the alarm, etc.).

Various embodiments will now be discussed in greater detail withreference to the accompanying figures, beginning with FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a satellite television distributionsystem 100, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure. While a home automation system may be incorporated withvarious types of television receivers, various embodiments may be a partof a satellite-based television distribution system. Cable, IP-based,wireless and broadcast focused systems are also possible. Satellitetelevision distribution system 100 may include: television serviceprovider system 110, satellite transmitter equipment 120, satellites130, satellite dish 140, television receiver 150, home automationservice server 112, and display device 160. Alternate embodiments ofsatellite television distribution system 100 may include fewer orgreater numbers of components. While only one satellite dish 140,television receiver 150, and display device 160 (collectively referredto as “user equipment”) are illustrated, it should be understood thatmultiple (e.g., tens, thousands, millions of) instances and types ofuser equipment may receive data and television signals from televisionservice provider system 110 via satellites 130.

Television service provider system 110 and satellite transmitterequipment 120 may be operated by a television service provider. Atelevision service provider may distribute television channels,on-demand programming, programming information, and/or othercontent/services to users. Television service provider system 110 mayreceive feeds of one or more television channels and content fromvarious sources. Such television channels may include multipletelevision channels that contain at least some of the same content(e.g., network affiliates). To distribute television channels forpresentation to users, feeds of the television channels may be relayedto user equipment via multiple television distribution satellites. Eachsatellite may relay multiple transponder streams. Satellite transmitterequipment 120 may be used to transmit a feed of one or more televisionchannels from television service provider system 110 to one or moresatellites 130. While a single television service provider system 110and satellite transmitter equipment 120 are illustrated as part ofsatellite television distribution system 100, it should be understoodthat multiple instances of transmitter equipment may be used, possiblyscattered geographically, to communicate with satellites 130. Suchmultiple instances of satellite transmitting equipment may communicatewith the same or with different satellites. Different televisionchannels may be transmitted to satellites 130 from different instancesof transmitting equipment. For instance, a different satellite dish ofsatellite transmitter equipment 120 may be used for communication withsatellites in different orbital slots.

Satellites 130 may be configured to receive signals, such as streams oftelevision channels, from one or more satellite uplinks such assatellite transmitter equipment 120. Satellites 130 may relay receivedsignals from satellite transmitter equipment 120 (and/or other satellitetransmitter equipment) to multiple instances of user equipment viatransponder streams. Different frequencies may be used for uplinksignals 170 from downlink signals 180. Satellites 130 may be ingeosynchronous orbit. Each of the transponder streams transmitted bysatellites 130 may contain multiple television channels transmitted aspacketized data. For example, a single transponder stream may be aserial digital packet stream containing multiple television channels.Therefore, packets for multiple television channels may be interspersed.Further, information used by television receiver 150 for home automationfunctions may also be relayed to television receiver via one or moretransponder streams. For instance, home automation functions may berequested by and/or pushed to the television receiver 150 from thetelevision service provider system 110.

As shown in FIG. 1, multiple satellites 130 may be used to relaytelevision channels from television service provider system 110 tosatellite dish 140. Different television channels may be carried usingdifferent satellites. Different television channels may also be carriedusing different transponders of the same satellite; thus, suchtelevision channels may be transmitted at different frequencies and/ordifferent frequency ranges. As an example, a first and second televisionchannel may be relayed via a first transponder of satellite 130-1. Athird, fourth, and fifth television channel may be relayed via adifferent satellite or a different transponder of the same satelliterelaying the transponder stream at a different frequency. A transponderstream transmitted by a particular transponder of a particular satellitemay include a finite number of television channels, such as seven.Accordingly, if many television channels are to be made available forviewing and recording, multiple transponder streams may be necessary totransmit all of the television channels to the instances of userequipment. Further, it is contemplated that multiple home automationfunctions may be transmitted in similar fashion.

Satellite dish 140 may be a piece of user equipment that is used toreceive transponder streams from one or more satellites, such assatellites 130. Satellite dish 140 may be provided to a subscriber foruse on a subscription basis to receive television channels and/or homeautomation functions provided by the television service provider system110 and/or specifically, the home automation service server 112 of theprovider system 110, satellite transmitter equipment 120, and/orsatellites 130. Satellite dish 140, which may include one or more lownoise blocks (LNBs), may be configured to receive transponder streamsfrom multiple satellites and/or multiple transponders of the samesatellite. Satellite dish 140 may be configured to receive televisionchannels via transponder streams on multiple frequencies. Based on thecharacteristics of television receiver 150 and/or satellite dish 140, itmay only be possible to capture transponder streams from a limitednumber of transponders concurrently. For example, a tuner of televisionreceiver 150 may only be able to tune to a single transponder streamfrom a transponder of a single satellite at a given time. The tuner canthen be re-tuned to another transponder of the same or a differentsatellite. A television receiver 150 having multiple tuners may allowfor multiple transponder streams to be received at the same time. Merelyby way of example, multiple television channels and/or multiple homeautomation functions may be received concurrently.

FIG. 1 further illustrates one or more television receivers incommunication with satellite dish 140. Television receivers may beconfigured to decode signals received from satellites 130 via satellitedish 140 for output and presentation via a display device, such asdisplay device 160. Similarly, such television receivers may decodesignals received for any home automation devices. For instance, a homeautomation engine 311, as described further below, may decode suchsignals. A television receiver may be incorporated as part of atelevision or may be part of a separate device, commonly referred to asa set-top box (STB). Television receiver 150 may decode signals receivedvia satellite dish 140 and provide an output to display device 160.On-demand content, such as PPV content, may be stored to acomputer-readable storage medium. FIG. 2 described below providesadditional detail of various embodiments of a television receiver. Atelevision receiver is defined to include set-top boxes (STBs) and alsocircuitry having similar functionality that may be incorporated withanother device. For instance, circuitry similar to that of a televisionreceiver may be incorporated as part of a television. As such, whileFIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of television receiver 150 as separatefrom display device 160, it should be understood that, in otherembodiments, similar functions may be performed by a television receiverintegrated with display device 160. In some embodiments, televisionreceiver 150 may include the home automation engine 311, as detailed inrelation to FIG. 3. In some embodiments, the home automation engine 311may be included in another device, such as a computing device, astandalone system controller device, a system controller deviceintegrated with another device, such as a security system controldevice, etc.

Referring again to FIG. 1, display device 160 may be used to presentvideo and/or audio decoded and output by television receiver 150.Television receiver 150 may also output a display of one or moreinterfaces to display device 160, such as an electronic programmingguide (EPG). In many embodiments, display device 160 is a television.Display device 160 may also be a monitor, computer, or some other deviceconfigured to display video and, possibly, play audio.

As further illustrated in FIG. 1, uplink signal 170-1 represents asignal between satellite transmitter equipment 120 and satellite 130-1.Uplink signal 170-2 represents a signal between satellite transmitterequipment 120 and satellite 130-2. Each of uplink signals 170 maycontain streams of one or more different television channels and/or homeautomation functions. For example, uplink signal 170-1 may contain afirst group of television channels and/or home automation functions,while uplink signal 170-2 contains a second group of television channelsand/or home automation functions. Each of these television channelsand/or home automation functions may be scrambled such that unauthorizedpersons are prevented from accessing the television channels.

Downlink signal 180-1 represents a signal between satellite 130-1 andsatellite dish 140. Downlink signal 180-2 represents a signal betweensatellite 130-2 and satellite dish 140. Each of the downlink signals 180may contain one or more different television channels and/or homeautomation functions, which may be at least partially scrambled. Adownlink signal may be in the form of a transponder stream. A singletransponder stream may be tuned to at a given time by a tuner of atelevision receiver. For example, downlink signal 180-1 may be a firsttransponder stream containing a first group of television channelsand/or home automation functions, while downlink signal 180-2 may be asecond transponder stream containing a different group of televisionchannels and/or home automation functions. In addition to or instead ofcontaining television channels, a transponder stream can be used totransmit on-demand content to television receivers, including PPVcontent (which may be stored locally by the television receiver untiloutput for presentation).

FIG. 1 further illustrates downlink signal 180-1 and downlink signal180-2, being received by satellite dish 140 and distributed totelevision receiver 150. For a first group of television channels and/orhome automation functions, satellite dish 140 may receive downlinksignal 180-1 and for a second group of channels and/or home automationfunctions, downlink signal 180-2 may be received. Television receiver150 may decode the received transponder streams. As such, depending onwhich television channels and/or home automation functions are desiredto be presented or stored, various transponder streams from varioussatellites may be received, descrambled, and decoded by televisionreceiver 150.

Further shown in FIG. 1, network 190, which may include the Internet,may allow for bidirectional communication between television receiver150 and television service provider system 110, such as for homeautomation related services provided by home automation service server112. In addition or in alternate to network 190, a telephone (e.g.,landline) or cellular connection may be used to enable communicationbetween television receiver 150 and television service provider system110.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a home automation system 200 hostedby a television receiver 150 and/or an overlay device 251, in accordancewith certain embodiments of the present disclosure. Television receiver150 may represent the television receiver of FIG. 1. While televisionreceiver 150 may be configured to receive television programming from asatellite-based television service provider, it should be understoodthat in other embodiments, other forms of television service providernetworks may be used, such as an IP-based network (e.g., fiber network),a cable based network, a wireless broadcast-based network, etc.

Television receiver 150 may be configured to communicate with multiplein-home home automation devices. The devices with which televisionreceiver 150 communicates may use different communication standards orprotocols. Sensors and control units may be coupled and connected in aserial, parallel, star, hierarchical, and/or the like topologies and maycommunicate to the television receiver 150 via one or more serial, bus,or wireless protocols and technologies which may include, for example,WiFi, CAN bus, Bluetooth, I2C bus, ZigBee, Z-Wave and/or the like. Forinstance, one or more devices may use a ZigBee® communication protocolwhile one or more other devices communicate with the television receiverusing a Z-Wave® communication protocol. Other forms of wirelesscommunication may be used by devices and the television receiver 150.For instance, television receiver 150 and one or more devices may beconfigured to communicate using a wireless local area network, which mayuse a communication protocol such as 802.11.

In some embodiments, a separate device may be connected with televisionreceiver 150 to enable communication with home automation devices. Forinstance, communication device 252 may be attached to televisionreceiver 150. Communication device 252 may be in the form of a dongle.Communication device 252 may be configured to allow for Zigbee®,Z-Wave®, and/or other forms of wireless communication.

The communication device may connect with television receiver 150 via aUSB port or via some other type of (wired) communication port.Communication device 252 may be powered by the television receiver 150or may be separately coupled with a power source. In some embodiments,television receiver 150 may be enabled to communicate with a localwireless network and may use communication device 252 in order tocommunicate with devices that use a ZigBee® communication protocol,Z-Wave® communication protocol, and/or some other home wirelesscommunication protocols.

Communication device 252 may also serve to allow additional componentsto be connected with television receiver 150. For instance,communication device 252 may include additional audio/video inputs(e.g., HDMI), component, and/or composite input to allow for additionaldevices (e.g., Blu-ray players) to be connected with television receiver150. Such connection may allow video from such additional devices to beoverlaid with home automation information. Merely by way of example,whether home automation information is overlaid onto video may betriggered based on a user's press of a remote control button.

As shown in FIG. 2, regardless of whether television receiver 150 usescommunication device 252 to communicate with home automation devices,television receiver 150 may be configured to output home automationinformation for presentation to a user via display device 160. Suchinformation may be presented simultaneously with television programmingreceived by television receiver 150, such as via system 100 of FIG. 1.Television receiver 150 may also, at a given time, output onlytelevision programming or only home automation information based on auser's preference. The user may be able to provide input to televisionreceiver 150 to control the home automation system hosted by televisionreceiver 150 or by overlay device 251, as detailed below.

In some embodiments, television receiver 150 may not be used as a hostfor a home automation system. Rather, a separate device may be coupledwith television receiver 150 that allows for home automation informationto be presented to a user via display device 160. This separate devicemay be coupled with television receiver 150. In some embodiments, theseparate device is referred to as overlay device 251. Overlay device 251may be configured to overlay information, such as home automationinformation, onto a signal to be visually presented via display device160, such as a television. In some embodiments, overlay device 251 maybe coupled between television receiver 150, which may be in the form ofa set top box, and display device 160, which may be a television. Insuch embodiments, television receiver 150 may receive, decode,descramble, decrypt, store, and/or output television programming and/orhome automation functions. Television receiver 150 may output a signal,such as in the form of an HDMI signal. In some embodiments, rather thanbe directly input to display device 160, the output of televisionreceiver 150 may be input to overlay device 251. Overlay device 251 mayreceive the video and/or audio output from television receiver 150.Overlay device 251 may add additional information to the video, audioand/or home automation function signal received from television receiver150. The modified video and/or audio signal may be output to displaydevice 160 for presentation. In some embodiments, overlay device 251 hasan HDMI input and an HDMI output, with the HDMI output being connectedto display device 160. To be clear, while FIG. 2 illustrates linesillustrating communication between television receiver 150 and variousdevices, it should be understood that such communication may exist, inaddition or in alternate via communication device 252 and/or withoverlay device 251.

In various embodiments, television receiver 150, communication device252, and/or overlay device 251 may be or include a tablet computer,cellular phone, smartphone, laptop computer, remote computer, and/orsome other device through which a user may desire to control homeautomation settings and view home automation information. In someembodiments, television receiver 150 may be used to provide homeautomation functionality while overlay device 251 may be used to presentinformation via display device 160. It should be understood that thehome automation functionality detailed herein in relation to atelevision receiver may alternatively be provided via overlay device251. In some embodiments, overlay device 251 may provide home automationfunctionality and be used to present information via display device 160.Using overlay device 251 to present automation information via displaydevice 160 may have additional benefits. For instance, multiple devicesmay provide input video to overlay device 251. For instance, televisionreceiver 150 may provide television programming to overlay device 251, aDVD/Blu-Ray player may provide video to overlay device 251, and aseparate internet-TV device may stream other programming to overlaydevice 251. Regardless of the source of the video/audio, overlay device251 may output video and/or audio that has been modified to include homeautomation information, such as a pop-up overlay with a prompt message,and output to display device 160. As such, in such embodiments,regardless of the source of video/audio, overlay device 251 may modifythe audio/video to include home automation information and, possibly,solicit for user input. For instance, in some embodiments overlay device251 may have four video inputs (e.g., four HDMI inputs) and a singlevideo output (e.g., an HDMI output). In other embodiments, such overlayfunctionality may be part of television receiver 150. As such, aseparate device, such as a Blu-ray player may be connected with a videoinput of television receiver 150, thus allowing television receiver 150to overlay home automation information when content from the Blu-Rayplayer is being output to display device 160.

Regardless of whether television receiver 150 is itself configured toprovide home automation functionality and output home automation inputfor display via display device 160 or such home automation functionalityis provided via overlay device 251, home automation information may bepresented by display device 160 while television programming is alsobeing presented by display device 160. For instance, home automationinformation may be overlaid or may replace a portion of televisionprogramming (e.g., broadcast content, stored content, on-demand content,etc.) presented via display device 160. Merely by way of example, whiletelevision programming is being presented (e.g., a television show onscuba diving), the display is augmented with information related to homeautomation. This television show may represent broadcast programming,recorded content, on-demand content, or some other form of content. Inone example, the presented home automation information is related tomotion being detected by a camera at a front door of a location. Suchaugmentation of the television programming may be performed directly bytelevision receiver 150 (which may or may not be in communication withcommunication device 252) or overlay device 251 connected withtelevision receiver 150 and display device 160. Such augmentation mayresult in solid or partially transparent graphics being overlaid ontotelevision programming (or other forms of video) output by televisionreceiver 150. Overlay device 251 or television receiver 150 may beconfigured to add or modify sound to television programming. In additionor in alternate, a graphic may be displayed. In other embodiments,camera data (e.g., nanny camera data) and/or associated sound or motionsensors may be integrated in the system and overlaid or otherwise madeavailable to a user.

Such presented home automation information may request user input. Forinstance, a user, via controls of television receiver 150 (e.g., aremote control) or controls of overlay device 251, can specify whethervideo from a camera at the front door should be presented, notpresented, or if future notifications related to such motion such beignored. If ignored, this may be for a predefined period of time, suchas an hour, or until the television receiver 150 or overlay device 251is powered down and powered back on. Ignoring of video may beparticularly useful if motion or some other event is triggering thepresentation of video that is not interesting to a viewer of displaydevice 160 (or a wireless device).

Television receiver 150 or overlay device 251 may be configured tocommunicate with one or more wireless devices, such as wireless device216. Wireless device 216 may represent a tablet computer, cellularphone, smartphone, laptop computer, remote computer, or some otherdevice through which a user may desire to control home automationsettings and view home automation information. Such a device also neednot be wireless, such as a desktop computer. Television receiver 150,communication device 252, or overlay device 251 may communicate directlywith wireless device 216, or may use a local wireless network, such asnetwork 270. Wireless device 216 may be remotely located and notconnected with a same local wireless network. Via the internet,television receiver 150 or overlay device 251 may be configured totransmit a notification to wireless device 216 regarding home automationinformation. For instance, in some embodiments, a third-partynotification server system, such as the notification server systemoperated by Apple®, may be used to send such notifications to wirelessdevice 216. Notifications may include any suitable information to allowfor system management, such as status, image data, audio and/or videodata, configuration data, and/or the like. An application may beprovided directly or indirectly by service provider for installation andexecution by the wireless device 216 to allow for invoking, waking up,opening, and/or otherwise activating the application responsive tonotifications, presentation of notifications, provisioning of a userinterface to allow for output of information to a user and for inputfrom user with one or more user-selectable options. In variousembodiments, an end-user interface may include providing one or moredisplay screens that may each include one or more user interfaceelements. An end-user interface may include any text, image, and/ordevice that can be displayed on a display screen for providinginformation to a user and/or for receiving user input. An end-userinterface may include one or more icons, widgets, buttons, checkboxes,text, text boxes, text fields, tables, lists, and/or the like.

Further shown in FIG. 2, in some embodiments, a location of wirelessdevice 216 may be monitored. For instance, if wireless device 216 is acellular phone, when its position indicates it has neared a door, thedoor may be unlocked. A user may be able to define which home automationfunctions are controlled based on a position of wireless device 216.Other functions could include opening and/or closing a garage door,adjusting temperature settings, turning on and/or off lights, openingand/or closing shades, etc. Such location-based control may also takeinto account the detection of motion via one or more motion sensors thatare integrated into other home automation devices and/or stand-alonemotion sensors in communication with television receiver 150.

In some embodiments, little to no setup of network 270 may be necessaryto permit television receiver 150 to stream data out to the Internet.For instance, television receiver 150 and network 270 may be configured,via a service such as Sling® or other video streaming service, to allowfor video to be streamed from television receiver 150 to devicesaccessible via the Internet. Such streaming capabilities may be“piggybacked” to allow for home automation data to be streamed todevices accessible via the Internet. For example, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/645,870, filed on Dec. 23, 2009, entitled“Systems and Methods for Remotely Controlling a Media Server via aNetwork”, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes one suchsystem for allowing remote access and control of a local device. U.S.Pat. No. 8,171,148, filed Apr. 17, 2009, entitled “Systems and Methodsfor Establishing Connections Between Devices Communicating Over aNetwork”, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes a systemfor establishing connection between devices over a network. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/619,192, filed May 19, 2011, entitled “Systemsand Methods for Delivering Messages Over a Network”, which is herebyincorporated by reference, describes a message server that providesmessages to clients located behind a firewall.

Still referring to FIG. 2, as an example of how wireless device 216 maybe used in conjunction with television receiver 150 or overlay device251 for controlling a home automation system, a wireless device 216 maybe in communication with television receiver 150 serving as the host ofa home automation system. At approximately a same time that the homeautomation information is presented via display device 160 (assuming itis already turned on or, in some embodiments, activated via a systemcontroller transmission), similar information may be sent to wirelessdevice 216, such as via a third-party notification server or directlyfrom television receiver 150 or overlay device 251 via a local wirelessnetwork. With a notification with information about an alarm of a toxicgas detector (e.g., a CO detector 219) and/or about a toxic gasthreshold being exceeded, one or more user-selectable options may beprovided to allow a user of wireless device 216 to specify whether oneor more furnaces should be shut off, whether thermostat settings shouldbe adjusted (e.g., lowered to mitigate CO levels), whether othermitigation actions should be taken (e.g., fresh air ventilationactivation), whether to notify other wireless devices (e.g., devices offamily members registered with the system), whether an alarm should beturned off (e.g., postponed for any suitable time period, after whichthe toxic gas detector 219 would operate normally and sound an alarm ifa toxic gas threshold is exceeded) or allowed to continue to soundlocally, or if future notifications related to such detection should beignored. If ignored, this may be for a predefined period of time, suchas an hour or some other predefined or user-selected period of time. Inthis way, a user interface of the wireless device 216 may correspond toan overlay of the home automation information and/or prompt appearing onthe display device 160.

Wireless device 216 may serve as an input device for television receiver150. For instance, wireless device 216 may be a tablet computer thatallows text to be typed by a user and provided to television receiver150. Such an arrangement may be useful for text messaging, group chatsessions, or any other form of text-based communication. Other types ofinput may be received for the television receiver from a tablet computeror other device, such as lighting commands, security alarm settings anddoor lock commands. While wireless device 216 may be used as the inputdevice for typing text, television receiver 150 may output for displaytext to display device 160.

Wireless device 216 may be configured to store a software model of homeautomation system intended to mirror the software model stored bytelevision receiver 150, which is hosting the home automation system.For instance, such a software model may allow wireless device 216 toview, communicate with, and/or interact with various home automationdevices. Such a software model may indicate the state of various homeautomation devices. When wireless device 216 is not in communicationwith television receiver 150, changes to the home automation model madeat television receiver 150 may not be known to wireless device 216. Ahistory list maintained by television receiver 150 and/or asynchronization point numerical value, whereby each change to the homeautomation model by television receiver 150 is assigned a value andsynchronized at a later point with the wireless device 216, may beimplemented. In another aspect, the wireless device 216 may be utilizedby a user for entering and/or confirming rules and other settings of thehome automation system, and such settings may be synchronized orotherwise communicated with the television receiver 150.

In some embodiments, a cellular modem 253 may be connected with eitheroverlay device 251 or television receiver 150. Cellular modem 253 may beuseful if a local wireless network is not available. For instance,cellular modem 253 may permit access to the internet and/orcommunication with a television service provider. Communication with atelevision service provider, such as television service provider system110 of FIG. 1, may also occur via a local wireless or wired networkconnected with the Internet. In some embodiments, information for homeautomation purposes may be transmitted by television service providersystem 110 to television receiver 150 or overlay device 251 via thetelevision service provider's distribution network, which may includethe use of satellites 130.

Various home automation devices may be in communication with televisionreceiver 150 or overlay device 251. Such home automation devices may usedisparate communication protocols. Such home automation devices maycommunicate with television receiver 150 directly or via communicationdevice 252. Such home automation devices may be controlled by a userand/or have a status viewed by a user via display device 160 and/orwireless device 216. Such home automation device may include one or moreof the following, as discussed below.

As shown in FIG. 2, such home automation devices may include one or morecameras, such as camera 212. Camera 212 may be either indoors oroutdoors and may provide a video and, possibly, audio stream which canbe presented via wireless device 216 and/or display device 160. Videoand/or audio from camera 212 may be recorded by overlay device 251 ortelevision receiver 150 upon an event occurring, such as motion beingdetected by camera 212. Video and/or audio from camera 212 may becontinuously recorded such as in the form of a rolling window, thusallowing a period of time of video/audio to be reviewed by a user frombefore a triggering event and after the triggering event. Video may berecorded on a storage local to overlay device 251 or television receiver150, or may be recorded and or storage on external storage devices, suchas a network attached storage device. In some embodiments, video may betransmitted across the local and/or wide area network to other storagedevices upon occurrence of a trigger event for later playback. Forinitial setup, a still from camera 212 may be captured by and stored bytelevision receiver 150 for subsequent presentation as part of a userinterface via display device 160 such that the user can determine whichcamera (if multiple cameras are present) is being set up and/or lateraccessed.

For instance, as shown in FIG. 2, video and, possibly, audio from camera212 may be available live for viewing by a user via overlay device 251or television receiver 150. Such video may be presented simultaneouslywith television programming being presented. In some embodiments, videomay only be presented if motion is detected by camera 212, otherwisevideo from camera 212 may not be presented by the display devicepresenting television programming. Also, such video (and, possibly,audio) from camera 212 may be recorded by television receiver 150 oroverlay device 251. Such video may be recorded based upon a timerconfigured by a user. For instance, camera 212 may be incorporated intoan electronic programming guide (EPG) output for display by televisionreceiver 150. For instance, camera 212 may be presented as a “channel”as part of the EPG along with other television programming channels. Auser may be permitted to select the channel associated with camera 212for presentation via display device 160 (or wireless device 216). Theuser may also be permitted to set a timer to record the channel ofcamera 212 for a user-defined period of time on a user-defined date.Such recording may not be constrained by the rolling window associatedwith a triggering event being detected. In some embodiments, video fromcamera 212 may be backed up to a remote storage device, such ascloud-based storage hosted by home automation service server 112. Otherdata may also be cached to the cloud, such as configuration settings.Thus, if the television receiver 150 or overlay device 251 malfunctions,then a new device may be installed and the configuration data loadedonto the device from the cloud.

Further shown in FIG. 2, window sensor 210 and door sensor 208 maytransmit data to television receiver 150 (possibly via communicationdevice 252) or overlay device 251 that indicates the status of a windowor door, respectively. Such status may indicate open or closed. When astatus change occurs, the user may be notified as such via wirelessdevice 216 or display device 160. Further, a user may be able to view astatus screen to view the status on one or more window sensors and/orone or more door sensors throughout the location. Window sensor 210and/or door sensor 208 may have integrated glass break sensors todetermine if glass has been broken.

One or more smoke and/or CO₂ detectors 209 may be integrated as part ofa home automation system. As such, alerts as to whether a fire or CO₂has been detected can be sent to television receiver 150, wirelessdevice 216, and/or emergency first responders. Further, televisionreceiver 150 and/or wireless device 216 may be used to disable falsealarms. One or more sensors may be integrated or separate to detect gasleaks, radon, or various other dangerous situations.

Pet door and/or feeder 211 may allow for pet related functionality to beintegrated with television receiver 150. For instance, a predefinedamount of food may be dispensed at predefined times to a pet. A pet doormay be locked and/or unlocked. The pet's weight or presence may triggerthe locking or unlocking of the pet door. For instance, a camera locatedat the pet door may be used to perform image recognition of the pet or aweight sensor near the door may identify the presence of the pet andunlock the door. A user may also lock/unlock a pet door via televisionreceiver 150 and/or wireless device 216.

Weather sensor 206 may allow television receiver 150 or overlay device251 to receive, identify, and/or output various forms of environmentaldata, including temperature, humidity, wind speed, barometric pressure,etc. Television receiver 150 or overlay device 251 may allow for controlof one or more shades, such as window, door, and/or skylight shades,within a house. Shade controller 204 may respond to commands fromtelevision receiver 150 or overlay device 251 and may provide statusupdates (e.g., shade up, shade 50% up, shade down, etc.).

In some embodiments, television receiver 150 may receive and notify auser of the status of electrical appliances such as refrigerators anddishwashers within the house. The television receiver 150 may be linkedto the appliances and present a notification message to the user throughany device that the user is using at the time, such as a tabletcomputer, mobile phone or thin client. U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/700,310, filed Feb. 4, 2010, entitled “Electronic Appliance StatusNotification via a Home Entertainment System,” which is herebyincorporated by reference, describes such techniques in further detail.

Also shown in FIG. 2, utility monitor 202 may serve to providetelevision receiver 150 or overlay device 251 with utility information,such as electricity usage, gas usage, water usage, wastewater usage,irrigation usage, etc. A user may view a status page or may receivenotifications upon predefined events occurring, such as electricityusage exceeding a defined threshold within a month, or current kilowattusage exceeding a threshold.

FIG. 2 further shows a health sensor 214 that may permit a user's vitalcharacteristics to be monitored, such as a heart rate. In someembodiments, additionally or alternatively, health sensor 214 maycontain a button or other type of actuator that a user can press torequest assistance. As such, health sensor 214 may be mounted to a fixedlocation, such as bedside, or may be carried by a user, such as on alanyard. Such a request may trigger a notification to be presented toother users via display device 160 and/or wireless device 216.Additionally or if the notification is not cleared by another userwithin a predefined period of time, a notification may be transmitted toemergency first responders to request help. In some embodiments, a homeautomation service provider may first try contacting the user, such asvia phone, to determine if an emergency is indeed occurring. Such ahealth sensor 214 may have additional purposes, such as for notificationof another form of emergency, such as a break-in, fire, flood, theft,disaster, etc. In some examples, the health sensor 214 may receivesignals from various cameras, temperature sensors, and other monitoringequipment in connection with the home automation system, analyze suchsignals, and store or report such signals as necessary.

In some embodiments, health sensor 214 may be used as a medical alertpendant that can be worn or otherwise carried by a user. It may containa microphone and/or speaker to allow communication with other usersand/or emergency first responders. Television receiver 150 or overlaydevice 251 may be preprogrammed to contact a particular phone number(e.g., emergency service provider, relative, caregiver, etc.) based onan actuator of health sensor 214 being activated by a user. The user maybe placed in contact with a person via the phone number and themicrophone and/or speaker of health sensor 214. Camera data may becombined with such alerts in order to give a contacted relative moreinformation regarding the medical situation. For example, health sensor214, when activated in the family room, may generate a command which islinked with security camera footage from the same room. In someembodiments, health sensor 214 may be able to monitor vitals of a user,such as a blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, blood sugar, etc. Insome embodiments, an event, such as a fall or exiting a structure can bedetected. Further, parallel notifications may be sent by the healthsensor 214 to multiple user devices at approximately the same time. Assuch, multiple people can be made aware of the event at approximatelythe same time (as opposed to serial notification). Which users arenotified for which type of event may be customized by a user oftelevision receiver 150.

In addition to such parallel notifications being based on data fromhealth sensor 214, data from other devices may trigger such parallelnotifications according to various rules within the home automationsystem. For instance, a mailbox open, a garage door open, an entry/exitdoor open during wrong time, an unauthorized control of specific lightsduring vacation period, a water sensor detecting a leak or flow, atemperature of room or equipment is outside of defined range, and/ormotion detected at front door are examples of possible events which maytrigger parallel notifications. A configuring user may be able to selectwhom to notify from a list of users provided by the home automationsystem and to select a method of notification to enable such parallelnotifications. The configuring user may prioritize which systems andpeople are notified, and specify that the notification may continuethrough the list unless acknowledged either electronically or by humaninteraction. For example, the user could specify that they want to benotified of any light switch operation in their home during theirvacation. Notification priority could be 1) SMS Message, 2) pushnotification, 3) electronic voice recorder places call to primarynumber, and 4) electronic voice recorder places call to spouse's number.The second notification may never happen if the user replies to the SMSmessage with an acknowledgment. Or, the second notification wouldautomatically happen if the SMS gateway cannot be contacted.

Intercom 218 may permit a user in one location to communicate with auser in another location, who may be using wireless device 216, displaydevice 160 or some other device, such another television receiver withinthe structure. Intercom 218 may be integrated with camera 212 or may usea dedicated microphone/speaker, such as a Bluetooth® microphone.Microphones/speakers of wireless device 216, display device 160,communication device 252, overlay device 251 may also or alternativelybe used. A multimedia over coax (MOCA) network or other appropriate typeof network may be used to provide audio and/or video based intercom viatelevision receiver 150 with other television receivers and/or wirelessdevices in communication with television receiver 150. Similarly, videoand/or audio conferencing can be provided, such that communication withpersons via the Internet is possible. Therefore, one possible use wouldbe video and/or audio conferencing within a structure using eachtelevision receiver (and associated connected display devices) in thestructure that are in communication, or allowing each televisionreceiver to perform video/audio conferencing with other devices externalto the structure or local area network.

To enable intercom 218, a microphone may be placed in a location where auser would typically be using intercom 218. For instance, a microphonemay be placed near display device 160. In some embodiments, a microphonemay be integrated into a remote control of television receiver 150. Assuch, if a user is using television receiver 150 via remote control, theuser would have access to a microphone. In at least one embodiment, auser can leverage the wireless device 216, such as a mobile phone ortablet computer, as the microphone for the home automation system.

Doorbell sensor 223 may permit an indication of when a doorbell has beenrung to be sent to multiple devices, such as television receiver 150and/or wireless device 216. In some embodiments, doorbell sensor 223detecting a doorbell ring may trigger video to be recorded by camera 212of the area near the doorbell and the video to be stored until deletedby a user (or stored for predefined period of time). Such a microphone,or a microphone on one or more other home automation devices, may allowfor voice recognition to be performed by television receiver 150. Voicerecognition may allow for a particular user to be determined and forcommands to be completed based on a user speaking such commands. Forinstance, an adult user may be permitted to perform certain functionsthat a child user cannot; such as unlocking doors. Each user may providea voice sample which is used by television receiver 150 to distinguishusers from each other. Further, users may be able to speak commands,such as “lower heat 5 degrees,” to control home automation devices.Based on the command received, television receiver 150 may determine towhich home automation device the command is intended and may transmit anappropriate command (such as, in this example, a command to lower theheat setting by five degrees to thermostat 222). In at least oneembodiment, a user may use a user-defined code word that precedes orfollows a command, such as “sesame,” then speaking a command such as“turn on the living room lights.” In some embodiments, in addition or inalternate to voice identification, fingerprint identification may beused to determine an identity of a user. Specific functions oftelevision receiver 150 may require that a user log in, such as via afingerprint scanner, before being able to view and/or modify suchfunctions.

Light controller 220 may permit a light to be turned on, off, and/ordimmed by television receiver 150 or overlay device 251 (such as basedon a user command received via wireless device 216 or directly viatelevision receiver 150 or overlay device 251). Light controller 220 maycontrol a single light. As such, multiple different light controllers220 may be present within a house. In some embodiments, a physical lightswitch (which opens and closes a circuit of the light) may be left inthe on position such that light controller 220 can be used to controlwhether the light is on or off. Light control 220 may be integrated intoa light bulb or into a circuit (such as between the light fixture andthe power source) to control whether the light is on or off. The user,via television receiver 150 or overlay device 251 may be permitted toview a status of all light controllers 220 within a location. Sincetelevision receiver 150 or overlay device 251 may communicate usingdifferent home automation protocols, different light controllers 220(and, more generally, different home automation devices) within alocation may use disparate communication protocols, but may all still becontrolled by television receiver 150 or overlay device 251. In someembodiments, wireless light switches may be used that communicate withtelevision receiver 150 or overlay device 251. Such switches may use adifferent communication protocol than light controllers 220. Such adifference may not affect functionality because television receiver 150or overlay device 251 can serve as a hub for multiple disparatecommunication protocols and perform any necessary translation and/orbridging functions. For example, a tablet computer may transmit acommand over a WiFi connection and television receiver 150 or overlaydevice 251 may translate the command into an appropriate Zigbee or Zwavecommand for a wireless light bulb. In some embodiments, the translationmay occur for a group of disparate devices. For example, a user decidesto turn off all lights in a room and selects a lighting command on thetablet computer. The overlay device 251 identifies the lights in theroom and outputs appropriate commands to all devices over differentprotocols, such as a Zigbee wireless lightbulb and a Zwave table lamp.Television receiver 150 may permit timers and/or dimmer settings to beset for lights via light controller 220. For instance, lights can beconfigured to turn on/off at various times during a day according to aschedule (and/or events being detected by the home automation system).

Thermostat 222 may communicate with television receiver 150 or overlaydevice 251. Thermostat 222 may provide heating/cooling updates on thelocation to television receiver 150 or overlay device 251 for displayvia display device 160 and/or wireless device 216. Further, control ofthermostat 222 may be effectuated via television receiver 150 or overlaydevice 251. Zone control within a structure using multiple thermostatsmay also be possible.

Detector manager 221 may be configured to detect externalsensors/detectors placed throughout a home. In various embodiments,detector manager 221 may be configured to detect any one or combinationof types of external detectors placed throughout the home, such any oneor combination of the sensors/detectors described herein. In someembodiments, detector manager 221 may be configured to detect externaltoxic gas detectors placed throughout a home, for example, CO detectors219(a), (b), . . . (n), as in the example depicted. CO detectors 219 maybe configured to detect one or more metrics indicative of CO levels andsound one or more audible alarms when one or more gas thresholds havebeen satisfied/exceeded. In some embodiments, detector manager 221 mayadditionally include one or more of CO detectors 219(a), (b), . . . (n),which may be integrated with device.

Detector manager 221 may listen for tones generated by one or more ofthe CO detectors 219. Detector manager 221 may have a learning/trainingmode whereby it learns the distinct tones of each of the CO detectors219. Detector manager 221 may individually distinguish each of the COdetectors 219 by volume and direction of the alarms of the CO detectors219 based at least in part on one or more audio sensors in operativecommunication with the detector manager 221. In some embodiments, theone or more audio sensors may be included in the detector manager 221.For example, one or more microphones may be integrated with the deviceitself. In addition or in the alternative, the one or more audio sensorsmay be external to the detector manager 221 and communicatively coupledto the detector manager 221. The external audio sensors may be dedicatedto detector manager 221 in some embodiments. For example, externalmicrophones may be positioned in various locations throughout the homeand may wirelessly communication data to the detector manager 221. Inaddition or in the alternative, external microphones of other componentsof the home automation ecosystem 200 may communicate data to thedetector manager 221. Thus, in various embodiments, data frommicrophones of any one or combination of components (e.g., intercom 218,wireless device 216, heather sensor 214, cameras 212, etc.) may begathered directly by detector manager 221 and/or indirectly by detectormanager 221 (e.g., via television receiver 150, overlay device 251,etc.).

In some embodiments, detector manager 221 may be part of a subsystem ofthe home automation system 200. Detector manager 221 may be configuredto manage one or more other components of the system that arecommunicatively coupled to detector manager 221 via any suitable means,including wired and/or wireless connections. Detector manager 221 mayinclude an alarm handling system controller. In various embodiments, thecontroller may be included in television receiver 150, set-top box(which may include a television receiver 150, in some embodiments), atelevision or other display device 160 (which may include a televisionreceiver 150, in some embodiments), overlay device 251, or anotherhousehold device. Detector manager 221 may include a monitoring andcontrol module and may be communicatively connected or coupled to one ormore control units. The one or more control units may include, forexample, one or more appliance controllers 226, thermostat(s) 222,and/or the like. In various embodiments, control units may be wired orwirelessly coupled to detector manager 221 directly and/or indirectly,e.g., via television receiver 150, communication device 252, overlaydevice 251, and/or the like. In various embodiments, control units maybe coupled and connected in a serial, parallel, star, hierarchical,and/or the like topologies and may communicate to the televisionreceiver via one or more serial, bus, or wireless protocols andtechnologies which may include, for example, WiFi, CAN bus, Bluetooth,I2C bus, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Homeplug, MOCA, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, detector manager 221 may be communicatively coupledwith thermostat 222. In some embodiments, detector manager 221 andthermostat 222 may be integrated and may be a single device. In someembodiments, detector manager 221 and thermostat 222 may be separatedevices. In some embodiments, detector manager 221 may be configured tocontrol thermostat 222. In some embodiments, in addition or in thealternative to the aforenoted embodiments, detector manager 221 may becommunicatively coupled with, integrated with, and/or configured tocontrol any one or combination of sensors, detectors, controllers,and/or other devices associated with any one or combination ofcomponents disclosed with respect to the home automation ecosystem 200,such as home security subsystem 207, smoke/CO2 detector 209, etc.

In some embodiments, detector manager 221 may be configured to controlappliance controllers 226. Appliance controllers 226 may include controlunits and may include any number of switches, solenoids, solid statedevices and/or the like for making noise, bells/alarms, turning on/offelectronics, heating and cooling elements, controlling appliances, HVACsystems, lights, and/or the like. For example, a control unit may be adevice that plugs in to an electrical outlet of a home. Other devices,such as an appliance, may be plugged into the device. The device may becontrolled remotely to enable or disable electricity to flow to theappliance.

Certain embodiments of detector manager 221 may be configured togenerate and cause transmission of notifications to emergency firstresponders (e.g., calling 911) to request help. In various embodiments,detector manager 221 send notifications via VoIP (Voice over IP), alandline telephone connection (e.g., public switched telephone network),cellular connection, SMS messaging, push notification, or anothersuitable mechanism. In some embodiments, the home automation systemand/or a home automation service provider may first try contacting theuser, such as via phone, to notify the user of an emergency condition.

In some embodiments, detector manager 221 may be configured to have oneor more learning modes. In some embodiments, an initial learning modemay be manually facilitated. A user interface may guide a user throughcertain steps of an initialization process. The initialization processmay include the user sounding alarms of in-place CO detectors 219. Insome embodiments, in addition or in the alternative, a learning mode maybe automatically driven by detector manager 221. With the automaticlearning mode, detector manager 221 may make initial determinations asto locations and identities of in-place CO detectors 219 as eachdetector 219 eventually sound an alarm. The initial determinations maybe made based at in part on home information gleaned from one or morecomponents of the ecosystem 200, in some embodiments. For example, floorplan indicia may be compiled by detector manager 221 from one or morecomponents of the ecosystem 200.

Additionally or alternatively, detector manager 221 may utilize varioussensor data gathered from sources throughout the home (people, variousalarms, doorbells, security system sounds, telephone tones, televisionsounds, etc.) to create an audio profile for the home based at least inpart on volume, directionality, and/or other sound characteristics ofthe detected sounds. For example, detector manager 221 may correlatesensor data (e.g., motion detection data, vibration detection data,video data, etc.) detecting a presence of an individual in a particularroom with sound data detected contemporaneously. Detector manager 221may be configured to compile any one or combination of such floor plandata and/or sound data and could include a reasoning module to makelogical inferences from a set of detected and differentiated sound datato infer one or more home locations, a floor plan, and/orlocations/identities of CO detectors 219 as each detector 219 eventuallysounds an alarm. Accordingly, in some embodiments, detector manager 221may correspond to a reasoning engine configured to use detected anddifferentiated sound data to effect one or more features describedherein. A pattern-based reasoner could be employed to use variousstatistical techniques in analyzing sound data in order to makeinferences based on the analysis. A transitive reasoner could beemployed to infer relationships from a set of relationships related tosound data.

In some embodiments, detector manager 221 may be configured to have anongoing learning mode to confirm, correct, and/or refine location,identity, and/or alarm condition handling determinations. For example,having come to one or more conclusions about locations/identities of COdetectors 219, detector manager 221 may confirm and/or correct locationand/or identity determination with feedback loop features disclosedherein.

Readings from the sensors may be collected, stored, and/or analyzed indetector manager 221. In embodiments, analysis of the sensors andcontrol of the control units may be determined by a configuration datastored in detector manager 221. The configuration data may define howthe sensor data is collected, how often, what periods of time, whataccuracy is required, and other characteristics. The configuration datamay specify specific sensor and/or control unit settings for amonitoring and/or control application. The configuration data may definehow the sensor readings are processed and/or analyzed. Configurationdata may define monitoring operations, reactive measures, activationconstraints for components, and the like.

A detector profile for a particular detector 219 may be generated, andeach detector 219 may have a particularized detector profile. Aparticularized detector profile may include baseline detected audio dataattributed to the particular detector 219. Subsequent detected audiodata may be used, in conjunction with previously detected audio data, toderive a filter for the particular detector 219. For example, baselinedetected audio data may be attributed to the particular detector 219with an initialization process, and one or more subsequent sounddetections may be compared to the baseline readings to determine changesbetween the baseline readings and the subsequent readings. Differencesbetween the readings may be used to develop the filter for theparticular detector 219.

Detector manager 221 may provide a user interface to allow for output ofinformation to a user and for input from user with one or moreuser-selectable options. In various embodiments, an end-user interfacemay include providing one or more display screens that may each includeone or more user interface elements. An end-user interface may includeany text, image, and/or device that can be displayed on a display screenfor providing information to a user and/or for receiving user input. Anend-user interface may include one or more icons, widgets, buttons,checkboxes, text, text boxes, text fields, tables, lists, and/or thelike. In various embodiments, an end-user interface may be provided withother components of the system 200 as disclosed herein, such as wirelessdevice 216, television receiver 150, display device 160, communicationdevice 252, overlay device 251, and/or the like.

Leak detection sensor 224 of FIG. 2 may be in communication withtelevision receiver 150 or overlay device 251 and may be used todetermine when a water leak has occurred, such as in pipes supplyingwater-based fixtures with water. Leak detection sensor 224 may beconfigured to attach to the exterior of a pipe and listen for a sound ofwater moving within a pipe. In other embodiments, sonar, temperaturesensors or ion infused water with appropriate sensors may be used todetect moving water. As such, cutting or otherwise modifying plumbingmay not be necessary to use leak detection sensor 224. If water movementis detected for greater than a threshold period of time, it may bedetermined that a leak is occurring. Leak detection sensor 224 may havea component that couples over an existing valve such that the flow ofwater within one or more pipes can be stopped. For instance, if leakdetection sensor 224 determines a leak may be occurring, a notificationmay be provided to a user via wireless device 216 and/or display device160 by television receiver 150 or overlay device 251. If a user does notclear the notification, the flow of water may be shut off by leakdetection sensor 224 after a predefined period of time. A user may alsobe able to provide input to allow the flow of water to continue or toimmediately interrupt the flow of water.

VoIP (Voice over IP) controller 225 may permit television receiver 150to serve as a hub for a home phone system. One or more conventionaltelephones may be connected with television receiver 150. Calls may beconverted to IP by television receiver 150, which may further allow forcalls to be received and placed via network 270 that is connected withthe Internet. The need for a dedicated home phone line may thus beeliminated. In some embodiments, a cellular back channel (e.g., via acellular modem) may be utilized as a backup to other types of internetconnections, such as DSL, cable modems or satellite internet.

Appliance controller 226 may permit a status of an appliance to beretrieved and commands to control operation to be sent to an applianceby television receiver 150 or overlay device 251. For instance,appliance controller 226 may control a washing machine, a dryer, adishwasher, an oven, a microwave, a refrigerator, a toaster, a coffeemaker, a hot tub, or any other form of appliance. Appliance controller226 may be connected with the appliance or may be integrated as part ofthe appliance. Appliances and other electronic devices may also bemonitored for electricity usage. For instance, US Pat. Pub. No.2013/0318559, filed Nov. 19, 2012, to Crabtree, entitled “Apparatus forDisplaying Electrical Device Usage Information on a TelevisionReceiver,” which is hereby incorporated by reference, may allow forinformation regarding the electricity usage of one or more devices(e.g., other home automation devices or circuits within a home that aremonitored) to be determined. Control of one or more home automationdevices may be dependent on electrical usage and stored electricalrates. For instance, a washing machine may be activated in the eveningwhen rates are lower. Additionally or alternatively, operation ofdevices may be staggered to help prevent consuming too much power at agiven time. For instance, an electric heater may not be activated untila dryer powered via the same circuit is powered down.

Garage door controller 228 may permit a status of a garage door to bechecked and the door to be opened or closed by a user via televisionreceiver 150 or overlay device 251. In some embodiments, based on alocation of wireless device 216, the garage door may be controlled. Forinstance, if wireless device 216 is a cellular phone and it is detectedto have moved a threshold distance away from a house having garage doorcontroller 228 installed, a notification may be sent to wireless device216. If no response is received within a threshold period of time, thegarage may be automatically shut. If wireless device 216 moves within athreshold distance of garage door controller 228, the garage may beopened.

Lock controller 230 may permit a door to be locked and unlocked and/ormonitored by a user via television receiver 150 or overlay device 251.In some embodiments, lock controller 230 may have an integrated doorsensor 208 to determine if the door is open, shut, or partially ajar.Being able to only determine if a door is locked or unlocked may not beoverly useful—for instance, a lock may be in a locked position, but ifthe door is ajar, the lock may not prevent access to the house.Therefore, for security, a user may benefit from knowing both that adoor is closed (or open) and locked (or unlocked). To accomplish suchnotification and control, lock controller 230 may have an integrateddoor sensor 208 that allows for the single lock controller 230 tolock/unlock a door and provide a status as to whether the door is openor shut. Therefore, a single device may control a lock and determinewhether the associated door is shut or open. Such a single device mayhave a single power source that allows for sensing of the lock position,sensing of the door position, and for engagement/disengagement of thelock. Lock controller 230 may have an integrated door sensor thatincludes a reed switch or proximity sensor that detects when the door isin a closed position. Other forms of sensing may also be used, such as aproximity sensor to detect a doorframe.

A home security system 207 may be integrated with a home automationsystem. The home security system 207 may detect motion, when a user hasarmed/disarmed the home security system 207, when windows/doors areopened or broken, etc. Television receiver 150 may adjust settings ofhome automation devices based on home security system 207 being armed ordisarmed. A virtual control and alarm panel may be presented to a uservia a display device 160 and television receiver 150. The functions of awall mounted panel alarm can be integrated in the graphical userinterface of the TV viewing experience such as a menu system with anunderlying tree structure. The virtual control and alarm panel canappear in a full screen or Picture-in-Picture (PiP) with TV content.Alarms and event notification can be in the form of scrolling textoverlays, popups, flashing icons, etc. Camera video (e.g., from camera212) can be integrated with the standard DVR content of televisionreceiver 150 with additional search, zoom, time-line capabilities. Thecamera's video stream can be displayed full screen, PiP with TV content,or as a tiled mosaic to display multiple camera's streams at a sametime. In some embodiments, the display can switch between camera streamsat fixed intervals. Television receiver 150 may perform video scaling,adjust frame rate and transcoding on video received from camera 212. Inaddition, television receiver 150 may adaptively transcode the cameracontent to match an Internet connection.

Irrigation controller 232 may allow for a status and control of anirrigation system (e.g., sprinkler system) to be controlled by a uservia television receiver 150 and/or overlay device 251. Irrigationcontroller 232 may be used in conjunction with weather sensor 206 todetermine whether and/or for how long irrigation controller 232 shouldbe activated for watering. Further, a user, via television receiver 150and/or overlay device, may turn on, turn off, or adjust settings ofirrigation controller 232.

One or more motion sensors can be incorporated into one or more of thepreviously detailed home automation devices or as a stand-alone device.Such motion sensors may be used to determine if a structure is occupied.Such information may be used in conjunction with a determined locationof one or more wireless devices. If some or all users are not present inthe structure, home automation settings may be adjusted, such as bylowering a temperature of thermostat 222, shutting off lights via lightcontroller 220, and determining if one or more doors are closed by doorsensor 208. In some embodiments, a user-defined script may be run whenit is determined that no users or other persons are present within thestructure.

Additional forms of sensors not illustrated in FIG. 2 may also beincorporated as part of a home automation system. For instance, amailbox sensor may be attached to a mailbox to determine when mail ispresent and/or has been picked up. The ability to control one or moreshowers, baths, and/or faucets from television receiver 150 and/orwireless device 216 may also be possible. Pool and/or hot tub monitorsmay be incorporated into a home automation system. Such sensors maydetect whether or not a pump is running, water temperature, pH level, asplash/whether something has fallen in, etc. Further, variouscharacteristics of the pool and/or hot tub may be controlled via thehome automation system. In some embodiments, a vehicle dashcam mayupload or otherwise make video/audio available to television receiver150 when within range. For instance, when a vehicle has been parkedwithin range of a local wireless network with which television receiver150 is connected, video and/or audio may be transmitted from the dashcamto the television receiver for storage and/or uploading to a remoteserver.

The home automation functions detailed herein that are attributed totelevision receiver 150 may alternatively or additionally beincorporated into overlay device 251. As such, a separate overlay device251 may be connected with display device 160 to provide home automationfunctionality.

Turning now to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a televisionreceiver 300, which may represent television receiver 150 of FIG. 1and/or FIG. 2, in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Television receiver 300 may be configured to function as ahost for a home automation system either alone or in conjunction with acommunication device, such as communication device 252 of FIG. 2.Television receiver 300 may be in the form of a separate deviceconfigured to be connected with a display device, such as a television.Embodiments of television receiver 300 can include set top boxes (STBs).In addition to being in the form of an STB, a television receiver may beincorporated as part of another device, such as a television, other formof display device, video game console, computer, mobile phone or tabletor the like. For example, a television may have an integrated televisionreceiver (which does not involve an external STB being coupled with thetelevision).

Television receiver 300 may be incorporated as part of a television,such as display device 160 of FIG. 1. Television receiver 300 mayinclude: processors 310 (which may include control processor 310-1,tuning management processor 310-2, and possibly additional processors),tuners 315, network interface 320, non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium 325, detector differentiation repositories 326,electronic programming guide (EPG) database 330, television interface335, digital video recorder (DVR) database 345 (which may includeprovider-managed television programming storage and/or user-definedtelevision programming), on-demand programming database 327, homeautomation settings database 347, home automation script database 348,security device 360, and/or descrambling engine 365. In another aspect,the television receiver 300 may include a detector manager engine(s)350, which may be provided for with the storage medium 325 and/or thecontrol processor 310-1, such as the home automation engine 311 of thecontrol processor 310-1. In some embodiments, detector manager engine(s)350 may facilitate features of detector manager 221. Accordingly, insome embodiments, detector manager 221 may be implemented withtelevision receiver 150, 300 and/or overlay device 251.

In various embodiments of television receiver 300, fewer or greaternumbers of components may be present. It should be understood that thevarious components of television receiver 300 may be implemented usinghardware, firmware, software, and/or some combination thereof.Functionality of components may be combined; for example, functions ofdescrambling engine 365 may be performed by tuning management processor310-2. Further, functionality of components may be spread amongadditional components. For instance, the home automation settingsdatabase 347, home automation script database 348, and/or detectormanager engine(s) 350 may be provided for, wholly or partly, in theoverlay device 251.

Processors 310 may include one or more specialized and/orgeneral-purpose processors configured to perform processes such astuning to a particular channel, accessing and displaying EPG informationfrom EPG database 330, and/or receiving and processing input from auser. It should be understood that the functions performed by variousmodules of FIG. 3 may be performed using one or more processors. Assuch, for example, functions of descrambling engine 365 may be performedby control processor 310-1.

Control processor 310-1 may communicate with tuning management processor310-2. Control processor 310-1 may control the recording of televisionchannels based on timers stored in DVR database 345. Control processor310-1 may also provide commands to tuning management processor 310-2when recording of a television channel is to cease. In addition toproviding commands relating to the recording of television channels,control processor 310-1 may provide commands to tuning managementprocessor 310-2 that indicate television channels to be output todecoder module 333 for output to a display device. Control processor310-1 may also communicate with network interface 320, device interface321, and/or a remote control interface. Control processor 310-1 mayhandle incoming data from network interface 320 and device interface321, which may receive input from a remote control. Additionally,control processor 310-1 may be configured to output data via networkinterface 320.

Control processor 310-1 may include the home automation engine 311. Homeautomation engine 311 may permit television receiver 300 and controlprocessor 310-1 to provide home automation functionality. Homeautomation engine 311 may have a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)command interpreter or some other form of command interpreter that isconfigured to communicate with wireless devices via network interface320 and a message server (possibly via a message server client). Such acommand interpreter of home automation engine 311 may also communicatevia a local area network with devices (without using the Internet). Homeautomation engine 311 may contain multiple controllers specific todifferent protocols; for instance, a ZigBee® controller, a Z-Wave®controller, and/or an IP camera controller (wireless LAN, 802.11) may bepresent. Home automation engine 311 may contain a media serverconfigured to serve streaming audio and/or video to remote devices (on alocal area network or the Internet). Television receiver may be able toserve such devices with recorded content, live content, and/or contentrecorded using one or more home automation devices, such as camera 212.

Tuners 315 may include one or more tuners used to tune to transpondersthat include broadcasts of one or more television channels. Such tunersmay be used also to receive for storage on-demand content and/orcredit-earning television commercials and/or home automation functions.In some embodiments, two, three, or more than three tuners may bepresent, such as four, six, or eight tuners. Each tuner contained intuners 315 may be capable of receiving and processing a singletransponder stream from a satellite transponder (or from a cablenetwork) at a given time. As such, a single tuner may tune to a singletransponder stream at a given time. If tuners 315 include multipletuners, one tuner may be used to tune to a television channel on a firsttransponder stream for display using a television, while another tunermay be used to tune to a television channel on a second transponder forrecording and viewing at some other time. If multiple televisionchannels transmitted on the same transponder stream are desired, asingle tuner of tuners 315 may be used to receive the signal containingthe multiple television channels for presentation and/or recording.Tuners 315 may receive commands from tuning management processor 310-2.Such commands may instruct tuners 315 to which frequencies are to betuned.

Network interface 320 may be used to communicate via an alternatecommunication channel with a television service provider, if suchcommunication channel is available. A communication channel may be viasatellite (which may be unidirectional to television receiver 300) andthe alternate communication channel (which may be bidirectional) may bevia a network, such as the Internet. Data may be transmitted fromtelevision receiver 300 to a television service provider system and fromthe television service provider system to television receiver 300.Information may be transmitted and/or received via network interface320. For instance, instructions from a television service provider mayalso be received via network interface 320, if connected with theInternet. Besides the primary communication channel being satellite,cable network, an IP-based network, or broadcast network may be used.Network interface 320 may permit wireless communication with one or moretypes of networks, including using home automation network protocols andwireless network protocols. Also, wired networks may be connected to andcommunicated with via network interface 320. Device interface 321 mayrepresent a USB port or some other form of communication port thatpermits communication with a communication device.

Storage medium 325 may represent one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage mediums. Storage medium 325 may include memoryand/or a hard drive. Storage medium 325 may be used to store informationreceived from one or more satellites and/or information received vianetwork interface 320. Storage medium 325 may store information relatedto detector differentiation repositories 326 (described further below),on-demand programming database 327, EPG database 330, DVR database 345,home automation settings database 347, and/or home automation scriptdatabase 348. Recorded television programs may be stored using storagemedium 325 as part of DVR database 345. Storage medium 325 may bepartitioned or otherwise divided (such as into folders) such thatpredefined amounts of storage medium 325 are devoted to storage oftelevision programs recorded due to user-defined timers and storedtelevision programs recorded due to provider-defined timers.

Home automation settings database 347 may allow configuration settingsof home automation devices and user preferences to be stored. Homeautomation settings database 347 may store data related to variousdevices that have been set up to communicate with television receiver300. For instance, home automation settings database 347 may beconfigured to store information on which types of events should beindicated to users, to which users, in what order, and whatcommunication methods should be used. For instance, an event such as anopen garage may only be notified to certain wireless devices (e.g., acellular phone associated with a parent, not a child), notification maybe by a third-party notification server, email, text message, and/orphone call. In some embodiments, a second notification method may onlybe used if a first fails to prompt a response (e.g., to address asecurity condition with a selection of a user-selectable option providedwith the notification). For instance, if a notification cannot be sentto the user via a third-party notification server, an email may be sent.

Home automation settings database 347 may store information that allowsfor the configuration and control of individual home automation deviceswhich may operate using Z-wave and Zigbee-specific protocols. To do so,home automation engine 311 may create a proxy for each device thatallows for settings for the device to be passed through a UI (e.g.,presented on a television) to allow for settings to be solicited for andcollected via a user interface presented by television receiver oroverlay device. The received settings may then be handled by the proxyspecific to the protocol, allowing for the settings to be passed on tothe appropriate device. Such an arrangement may allow for settings to becollected and received via a UI of the television receiver or overlaydevice and passed to the appropriate home automation device and/or usedfor managing the appropriate home automation device.

Home automation script database 348 may store scripts that detail howhome automation devices are to function based on various eventsoccurring. For instance, if stored content starts being played back bytelevision receiver 300, lights in the vicinity of display device 160may be dimmed and shades may be lowered by shade controller 204. Asanother example, when a user shuts programming off late in the evening,there may be an assumption the user is going to bed. Therefore, the usermay configure television receiver 300 to lock all doors via lockcontroller 230, shut the garage door via garage controller 228, lower aheat setting of thermostat 222, shut off all lights via light controller220, and determine if any windows or doors are open via window sensor210 and door sensor 208 (and, if so, alert the user). Such scripts orprograms may be predefined by the home automation/television serviceprovider and/or may be defined by a user.

In some embodiments, home automation script database 248 may allow forvarious music profiles to be implemented. For instance, based on homeautomation settings within a structure, appropriate music may be played.For instance, if the lights are dimmed, romantic music may be played.Conversely, based on the music being played, settings of home automationdevices may be determined. If television programming, such as a movie,is output for playback by television receiver 150, a particular homeautomation script may be used to adjust home automation settings (e.g.,lower lights, raise temperature, and lock doors).

EPG database 330 may store information related to television channelsand the timing of programs appearing on such television channels. EPGdatabase 330 may be stored using storage medium 325, which may be a harddrive or solid-state drive. Information from EPG database 330 may beused to inform users of what television channels or programs are popularand/or provide recommendations to the user. Information from EPGdatabase 330 may provide the user with a visual interface displayed by atelevision that allows a user to browse and select television channelsand/or television programs for viewing and/or recording. Informationused to populate EPG database 330 may be received via network interface320, via satellite, or some other communication link with a televisionservice provider (e.g., a cable network). Updates to EPG database 330may be received periodically. EPG database 330 may serve as an interfacefor a user to control DVR functions of television receiver 300, and/orto enable viewing and/or recording of multiple television channelssimultaneously. EPG database 340 may also contain information abouton-demand content or any other form of accessible content.

Decoder module 333 may serve to convert encoded video and audio into aformat suitable for output to a display device. For instance, decodermodule 333 may receive MPEG video and audio from storage medium 325 ordescrambling engine 365 to be output to a television. MPEG video andaudio from storage medium 325 may have been recorded to DVR database 345as part of a previously-recorded television program. Decoder module 333may convert the MPEG video and audio into a format appropriate to bedisplayed by a television or other form of display device and audio intoa format appropriate to be output from speakers, respectively. Decodermodule 333 may have the ability to convert a finite number of televisionchannel streams received from storage medium 325 or descrambling engine365, simultaneously. For instance, decoders within decoder module 333may be able to only decode a single television channel at a time.Decoder module 333 may have various numbers of decoders.

Television interface 335 may serve to output a signal to a television(or another form of display device) in a proper format for display ofvideo and playback of audio. As such, television interface 335 mayoutput one or more television channels and/or stored televisionprogramming from storage medium 325 (e.g., television programs from DVRdatabase 345, television programs from on-demand programming 330 and/orinformation from EPG database 330) to a television for presentation.Television interface 335 may also serve to output a CVM.

Digital Video Recorder (DVR) functionality may permit a televisionchannel to be recorded for a period of time. DVR functionality oftelevision receiver 300 may be managed by control processor 310-1.Control processor 310-1 may coordinate the television channel, starttime, and stop time of when recording of a television channel is tooccur. DVR database 345 may store information related to the recordingof television channels. DVR database 345 may store timers that are usedby control processor 310-1 to determine when a television channel shouldbe tuned to and its programs recorded to DVR database 345 of storagemedium 325. In some embodiments, a limited amount of storage medium 325may be devoted to DVR database 345. Timers may be set by the televisionservice provider and/or one or more users of television receiver 300.

DVR database 345 may also be used to record recordings of serviceprovider-defined television channels. For each day, an array of filesmay be created. For example, based on provider-defined timers, a filemay be created for each recorded television channel for a day. Forexample, if four television channels are recorded from 6-10 PM on agiven day, four files may be created (one for each television channel).Within each file, one or more television programs may be present. Theservice provider may define the television channels, the dates, and thetime periods for which the television channels are recorded for theprovider-defined timers. The provider-defined timers may be transmittedto television receiver 300 via the television provider's network. Forexample, in a satellite-based television service provider system, datanecessary to create the provider-defined timers at television receiver150 may be received via satellite.

On-demand programming database 327 may store additional televisionprogramming. On-demand programming database 327 may include televisionprogramming that was not recorded to storage medium 325 via a timer(either user- or provider-defined). Rather, on-demand programming may beprogramming provided to the television receiver directly for storage bythe television receiver and for later presentation to one or more users.On-demand programming may not be user-selected. As such, the televisionprogramming stored to on-demand programming database 327 may be the samefor each television receiver of a television service provider. On-demandprogramming database 327 may include pay-per-view (PPV) programming thata user must pay and/or use an amount of credits to view. For instance,on-demand programming database 327 may include movies that are notavailable for purchase or rental yet. Typically, on-demand programmingis presented commercial-free.

Referring back to tuners 315, television channels received via satellite(or cable) may contain at least some scrambled data. Packets of audioand video may be scrambled to prevent unauthorized users (e.g.,nonsubscribers) from receiving television programming without paying thetelevision service provider. When a tuner of tuners 315 is receivingdata from a particular transponder of a satellite, the transponderstream may be a series of data packets corresponding to multipletelevision channels. Each data packet may contain a packet identifier(PID), which can be determined to be associated with a particulartelevision channel. Particular data packets, referred to as entitlementcontrol messages (ECMs), may be periodically transmitted. ECMs may beassociated with another PID and may be encrypted; television receiver300 may use decryption engine 361 of security device 360 to decryptECMs. Decryption of an ECM may only be possible if the user hasauthorization to access the particular television channel associatedwith the ECM. When an ECM is determined to correspond to a televisionchannel being stored and/or displayed, the ECM may be provided tosecurity device 360 for decryption.

Tuning management processor 310-2 may be in communication with tuners315 and control processor 310-1. Tuning management processor 310-2 maybe configured to receive commands from control processor 310-1. Suchcommands may indicate when to start/stop receiving and/or recording of atelevision channel and/or when to start/stop causing a televisionchannel to be output to a television. Tuning management processor 310-2may control tuners 315. Tuning management processor 310-2 may providecommands to tuners 315 that instruct the tuners as to which satellite,transponder, and/or frequency to tune. From tuners 315, tuningmanagement processor 310-2 may receive transponder streams of packetizeddata.

Descrambling engine 365 may use the control words output by securitydevice 360 in order to descramble video and/or audio corresponding totelevision channels and/or home automation functions for storage and/orpresentation. Video and/or audio data contained in the transponder datastream received by tuners 315 may be scrambled. Video and/or audio datamay be descrambled by descrambling engine 365 using a particular controlword. Which control word output by security device 360 to be used forsuccessful descrambling may be indicated by a scramble controlidentifier present within the data packet containing the scrambled videoor audio. Descrambled video and/or audio may be output by descramblingengine 365 to storage medium 325 for storage (in DVR database 345)and/or to decoder module 333 for output to a television or otherpresentation equipment via television interface 335.

In some embodiments, the television receiver 300 may be configured toperiodically reboot in order to install software updates downloaded overthe network 190 or satellites 130. Such reboots may occur for exampleduring the night when the users are likely asleep and not watchingtelevision. If the system utilizes a single processing module to providetelevision receiving and home automation functionality, then thesecurity functions may be temporarily deactivated. In order to increasethe security of the system, the television receiver 300 may beconfigured to reboot at random times during the night in order to allowfor installation of updates. Thus, an intruder is less likely to guessthe time when the system is rebooting. In some embodiments, thetelevision receiver 300 may include multiple processing modules forproviding different functionality, such as television receivingfunctionality and home automation, such that an update to one moduledoes not necessitate reboot of the whole system. In other embodiments,multiple processing modules may be made available as a primary and abackup during any installation or update procedures.

For simplicity, television receiver 300 of FIG. 3 has been reduced to ablock diagram; commonly known parts, such as a power supply, have beenomitted. Further, some routing between the various modules of televisionreceiver 300 has been illustrated. Such illustrations are for exemplarypurposes only. The state of two modules not being directly or indirectlyconnected does not indicate the modules cannot communicate. Rather,connections between modules of the television receiver 300 are intendedonly to indicate possible common data routing. It should be understoodthat the modules of television receiver 300 may be combined into a fewernumber of modules or divided into a greater number of modules. Further,the components of television receiver 300 may be part of another device,such as built into a television. Television receiver 300 may include oneor more instances of various computerized components, such as disclosedin relation to computer system described further below.

While the television receiver 300 has been illustrated as asatellite-based television receiver, it is to be appreciated thattechniques below may be implemented in other types of televisionreceiving devices, such a cable receivers, terrestrial receivers, IPTVreceivers or the like. In some embodiments, the television receiver 300may be configured as a hybrid receiving device, capable of receivingcontent from disparate communication networks, such as satellite andterrestrial television broadcasts. In some embodiments, the tuners maybe in the form of network interfaces capable of receiving content fromdesignated network locations. The home automation functions oftelevision receiver 300 may be performed by an overlay device. If suchan overlay device, television programming functions may still beprovided by a television receiver that is not used to provide homeautomation functions.

FIG. 4 illustrates a subsystem 400 to facilitate personalized homeautomation control based at least in part on individualized audiodifferentiation of carbon monoxide detectors, in accordance with certainembodiments of the present disclosure. Certain embodiments of thesubsystem 400 may correspond to a subsystem in which detector manager221 may facilitate personalized home automation control based at leastin part on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxidedetectors. In some embodiments, the subsystem 400 may correspond toaspects of the system 100, 200, and/or 300.

While the subsystem 400 is illustrated as being composed of multiplecomponents, it should be understood that the subsystem 400 may be brokeninto a greater number of components or collapsed into fewer components.Each component may include any one or combination of computerizedhardware, software, and/or firmware. In various embodiments, thesubsystem 400 includes a home automation system controller 421 includingthe home automation engine 311 and/or the detector manager engine 350executed by one or more processors and may be implemented with thetelevision receiver 150, overlay device 251, and/or another device, suchas a computing device, a standalone system controller device, a systemcontroller device integrated with another device, such as a securitysystem control device, thermostat device, etc.

The detector manager 421 may be communicatively coupled with interfacecomponents and communication channels (which may take various forms invarious embodiments as disclosed herein) configured to receiveadjustment input 402. As depicted, the adjustment input 402 may includeaudio input 404. The subsystem 400 may process audio input 404 andanalyze the audio input 404 to identify an individual detector 219 andtake action accordingly to facilitate personalized home automationcontrol.

The audio input 404 may be captured by one or more audio sensors inoperative communication with the detector manager 421. In variousembodiments, the audio input 404 may be analog and/or digital. In thecase of analog, the analog data may be converted for processing by thesystem to digital, e.g., via an analog-to-digital converter included inthe detector manager 421, in operative communication with the detectormanager 421, or otherwise used with data processing components of thesystem.

In some embodiments, the one or more audio sensors may be included inthe detector manager 421. Thus, for example, one or more microphones maybe integrated with the device itself. In addition or in the alternative,the one or more audio sensors may be external to the detector manager421 and communicatively coupled to the detector manager 421. Externalaudio sensors may be dedicated to detector manager 421 in someembodiments. For example, external microphones may be positioned invarious locations throughout the home and may wirelessly communicationdata to the detector manager 221. In addition or in the alternative,external microphones of other components of the home automationecosystem 200 may communicate data to the detector manager 221. Thus, invarious embodiments, data from microphones of any one or combination ofcomponents (e.g., intercom 218, wireless device 216, heather sensor 214,cameras 212, etc.) may be gathered directly by detector manager 421and/or indirectly by detector manager 421 (e.g., via television receiver150, overlay device 251, etc.).

The adjustment input 402 may include user input 406. The user input 406may include real-time user control via a user interface (e.g., one ormore interfaces provided via wireless device 216, communication device252, television receiver 150, overlay device 251, and/or the like). Theuser input 406 may include user preferences. One or more storagerepositories 326-1 (which could correspond to storage medium 325, insome embodiments, or other storage of the device 421 in otherembodiments) may store one or more user profiles 457 that may includeuser preferences, user notification particulars (e.g., contactinformation, method of notification such push notifications, phone callswith automated voice messages, text messaging, instant messages,messaging with a home automation app and/or with a third-party app,etc.), and/or the like.

The adjustment input 402 may include other source input 408, which couldcorrespond to input from one or more other sources that may include anysuitable sensor input or other data source input. The one or more othersources could include any suitable sensor or other data source, whichcould be network-accessible, such as a service provider orprivate/public data source. For example, other source input 408 mayinclude sensor input indicating the presence of individuals in certainlocations of the home, which intelligence could be used to notify others(e.g., notify parents of children in the basement of a home when a hightoxic gas level is detected), to identify a source of noise whendeveloping noise filters, to facilitate adjustments (e.g., mitigationactions such as turning off the furnace, lowering a thermostat setting,activating ventilation controllers, etc.) and/or the like. Any suitabledata may be acquired by the detector manager 421 one or more othersources.

The detector manager 421 may include a monitoring engine 436 configuredto monitor the adjustment input 402 for any suitable aspects pertainingto alarm conditions, detector identification, detector differentiation,user preferences, configuration data, and/or the like. For example, themonitoring engine 436 may process information enabling identification ofindividual detectors, individual detector states, alarm conditionhandling (e.g., user notification particulars, furnace control, and/orthe like), user preferences, configuration data, and/or the like. Themonitoring engine 436 may listen for tones generated by one or more ofthe CO detectors 219. The monitoring engine 436 may receive and processsensor data gather via one or more of the sensors.

In some embodiments, the monitoring engine 436 may facilitate one ormore learning/training modes disclosed herein. For example, themonitoring engine 436 may gather and process sensor data to create anaudio profile for the home. In some embodiments, the detector manager421 may include a matching engine 438 that may be an analysis engine.The matching engine 438 may determine audio characteristics based atleast in part on sensor data received and processed by the monitoringengine 436. The matching engine 438 may define attributes based at leastin part on the audio characteristics.

In some embodiments, the matching engine 438 may create an audio profilefor the home based at least in part on volume, directionality, and/orother sound characteristics of the detected sounds. The matching engine438 may, for example, correlate sensor data received with other sensorinput 408 (e.g., motion detection data, vibration detection data, videodata, etc.) detecting a presence of an individual in a particular roomwith audio input 404 detected contemporaneously. The monitoring engine436 may compile any one or combination of such floor plan data and/orsound data, and the matching engine 438 may include a reasoning moduleto make logical inferences from a set of detected and differentiatedsound data to infer one or more home locations, a floor plan, and/orlocations/identities of CO detectors 219 as each detector 219 eventuallysounds an alarm. A pattern-based reasoner could be employed to usevarious statistical techniques in analyzing sound data in order to makeinferences based on the analysis. A transitive reasoner could beemployed to infer relationships from a set of relationships related tosound data.

In some embodiments, the monitoring engine 436 and/or the matchingengine 438 may employ an ongoing learning mode to confirm, correct,and/or refine location, identity, and/or alarm condition handlingdeterminations. For example, having come to one or more conclusionsabout locations/identities of CO detectors 219, detector manager 221 mayconfirm and/or correct location and/or identity determination withfeedback loop features. Certain embodiments may provide user withfeedback options to facilitate the ongoing learning mode.User-selectable options provided via user notifications could beprovided to allow a user to confirm or correct alarm conditionsdetected. The feedback could be used for training the system toheuristically adapt conclusions, profiles, correlations, attributes,triggers, patterns, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the monitoring engine 436 and/or the matchingengine 438 may generate, develop, and/or otherwise use particularizeddetector profiles 458. Each detector 219 may have a particularizeddetector profile 458. A particularized detector profile 458 may includebaseline detected audio data attributed to the particular detector 219.Subsequent detected audio data may be used, in conjunction withpreviously detected audio data, to derive a filter for the particulardetector 219. For example, baseline detected audio data may beattributed to the particular detector 219 with an initializationprocess, and one or more subsequent sound detections may be compared tothe baseline readings to determine changes between the baseline readingsand the subsequent readings. Differences between the readings may beused to develop the filter for the particular detector 219 to be storedwith the particularized detector profile 458.

Having detector profiles 458 which include distinct characteristics ofeach of the CO detectors 219, the matching engine 438 may individuallydistinguish each of the CO detectors 219 by volume and direction of thealarms of the CO detectors 219 when the monitoring engine 436 receivesand processes audio data corresponding to an alarm of one or more of theCO detectors 219. The matching engine 438 may correlate captured audiodata to individual detector profiles 458, and may link particular audiodata to one or more detector identifiers and detector locations. Thismay include comparing the captured audio data to baseline audio data toidentify in real time one or more particular CO detectors 219 thatcurrently sounding alarm(s).

The matching engine 438 may be configured to match information forsensor input 402 captured via the monitoring engine 436 to one or morecategories from a set of categories 459. Some embodiments may qualifyaudio data according to a graduated identification scale. Any suitableidentification scale may be used in various embodiments. In someembodiments, an identification scale could entail a categorizationscheme, with categories 459 such as strong identification of detector,possible identification of detector, and non-detector, or any suitablecategories. In some embodiments, an identification scale could entail anidentification scoring system. The identification scoring system couldbe correlated to the category scheme in some embodiments, such thatcertain scores correspond to certain categories. Some embodiments mayscore with a numerical expression, for example, an identification score.

For example, in some embodiments, audio data may be evaluated based atleast in part on detector profiles 458, and an identification score maybe an assessment of whether the audio data corresponds to a strongidentification of a detector, a possible identification of detector, ora strong identification of something other than a detector. Accordingly,an identification score may provide a quantitative estimate of theprobability that audio data corresponds to an alarm of a detector. Byway of example without limitation, an identification scale could includea range of scores from 0 to 100, or from 0 to 1,000, with the high endof the scale indicating greater probability. An identification score maybe based at least in part on the extent to which detected audiocharacteristics of the audio data match previously determined audiocharacteristics stored in the detector profiles. In some embodiments, anidentification score may be cumulative of individual scores based onmatching each type of the audio characteristics. For example, a detectedvolume that is within a volume range previously determined for aparticular detector (which may be based at least in part on taking intoaccount noise and other variances, such as closed doors otherobstructions, that may be accounted for by a noise filter) and stored inthe detector profile may be correlated to a very high score for thevolume characteristic. However, in the example, if a detected frequencyis not within a frequency range previously determined for the particulardetector and not within a marginal frequency range, the individual scorefor the frequency characteristic may be low, and the cumulativeidentification score may take both scores into account. Some embodimentsmay use methods of statistical analysis to derive an identificationscore. With an identification score determined, categorizations may bemade based on the score. By way of example without limitation, a scorecorrelated to a 75-100% band may be deemed a positive identification ofa detector; a score correlated to a 50-75% may be deemed a possibleidentification of a detector; and a score below a 50% minimum thresholdmay be deemed a negative identification of a detector.

The one or more storage repositories 326-1 may include rules 460. Insome embodiments, the rules 460 may include home automation rules. Insome embodiments, the rules 460 may include criteria for matching a setof one or more identified categories to a set of one or more adjustmentactions. For example, a strong identification of a detector alarmcondition may be matched to a certain set of adjustments, whereas apossible identification of detector may be matched to a different set ofadjustments (such as user notification of a possible condition, asopposed to automatically turning off a furnace as a first step), and anidentification of non-detector source of the audio data may result inthe audio data being ignored.

In some embodiments, the detector manager 421 may include an adjustmentengine 440 which may be configured to cause one or more adjustmentsresponsive to detected conditions. The adjustment engine 440 may analyzeinput monitored by the monitoring engine 436,determinations/instructions of the matching engine 438, and/orinformation stored in one or more repositories 326-1 to make adjustmentdeterminations.

Based at least in part on one or more adjustment determinations, theadjustment engine 440 may cause activation of one or more adjustmentactions. Such actions may include any one or combination of: activatingor deactivating a heating system 482; activating or deactivating acooling system 484; changing a thermostat setting or other likethreshold 486; activating or deactivating another type of ventilationsystem 488, such as a fan, an attic fan, etc.; adjusting one or more airvents 490; causing user notification 492; making other adjustments 494and/or the like. In various embodiments, other adjustments 494 mayinclude any other suitable actions to facilitate air control, such asany one or combination of adjusting windows, adjusting blinds, adjustingshades, controlling electronics, controlling appliances, and/orcontrolling other devices.

FIG. 5 depicts certain aspects of a method 500 for personalized homeautomation control based at least in part on individualized audiodifferentiation of carbon monoxide detectors, in accordance with certainembodiments of the present disclosure. In various embodiments, themethod 500 may be performed in whole or in part by a control device,which may include detector manager 221, 421, home automation engine 311,detector manager engine 350, and/or the like. As described above, suchfeatures may be provided for by a host system, which may, in variousembodiments, include detector manager 221, 421, television receiver 150,300, overlay device 251, and/or a combination thereof. In an example,television receiver 150, 300 may be in operative communication withoverlay device 251 that is further connected to various home automationdevices. It is noted that the method 500 may include additional steps,and that any of the steps presented herein may be rearranged, optional,and/or modified to include other steps and/or features described in thisapplication.

As indicated by block 502, a first detector profile may be generatedbased at least in part on a set of audio characteristics attributed tothe first detector. The first detector profile may allow a controldevice such as detector manager 221, 421 to uniquely identify the firstdetector based at least in part on the set of one or more audiocharacteristics. As indicated by block 504, first sensor data may bereceived from a set of one or more audio sensors in operativecommunication with the control device.

As indicated by block 506, a first set of audio characteristics may bedetermined based at least in part on the first sensor data. The sensordata may be analyzed to determine any suitable audio characteristicscorresponding to the detectors. In various embodiments, audiocharacteristics that may be determined may include any one orcombination of volumes, tones, directionalities, intensities, spectralcharacteristics, timing characteristics, arrival times, amplitudes,reflections from walls and other objects, frequencies, and/or the like.The control device may further analyze sensor data to determinedifferences in audio characteristics detected with different audiosensors from the set of audio sensors in operative communication withthe control device. For example, such differences may includedifferences in arrival times between multiple sensors, phases, groups,ratios of these attributes such as direct/reflection ratio, stabilities,and/or other audio characteristics. In some embodiments, differentiationof CO detectors may be based at least in part on utilizing multipleaudio sensors to detect an alarm and identify the source detector withthe differences in the detected audio characteristics due to thedifferent locations of the multiple audio sensors. For example, a sourcedetector may be identified based at least in part on triangulation usingmultiple audio sensors.

As indicated by block 508, a first set of attributes may be definedbased at least in part on the first set of audio characteristics. Insome embodiments, the attributes may correspond at least in part to asubset of audio characteristics. In various embodiments, the attributesmay include any one or combination of certain audio characteristics,unique detector identifiers, detector types, detector locations,differences in detected audio characteristics, categories such as thosedisclosed herein, and/or the like that may be attributed to individualdetectors. As indicated by block 510, the first set of attributes may bestored in association with a first identifier of a first detectorlocated remotely from the control device at a first location.

As indicated by block 512, a second detector profile may be generatedbased at least in part on a set of audio characteristics attributed tothe second detector. The second detector profile may allow the controldevice to uniquely identify the second detector based at least in parton the set of one or more audio characteristics. As indicated by block514, second sensor data may be received from the set of one or moreaudio sensors. As indicated by block 516, a second set of audiocharacteristics may be determined based at least in part on the secondsensor data. As indicated by block 518, a second set of attributes maybe defined based at least in part on the second set of audiocharacteristics. As indicated by block 520, the second set of attributesmay be stored in association with a second identifier of a seconddetector located remotely from the control device at second location.Though only two detectors are addressed in FIG. 5, the method 500 may befurther extended to additional detectors and may be applied to anysuitable number of detectors.

As indicated by block 522, third sensor data may be received from theset of one or more audio sensors. As indicated by block 524, the thirdsensor data may be analyzed to identify a first alarm of the firstdetector or a second alarm of the second detector based at least in parton a volume and/or a directionality determined based at least in part onthe third sensor data and based at least in part on the first set ofattributes and/or the second set of attributes. As indicated by block526, consequent to identifying the first alarm of the first detector orthe second alarm of the second detector, a home automation rule may bedetermined. The home automation rule may include one or more operationalsettings of one or more home automation devices that may correspond toone or more adjustments as disclosed herein. For example, one or morehome automation rules may govern adjustments that correspond to any oneor combination of: activating or deactivating a heating system 482;activating or deactivating a cooling system 484; changing a thermostatsetting or other like threshold 486; activating or deactivating anothertype of ventilation system 488, such as a fan, an attic fan, etc.;adjusting one or more air vents 490; causing user notification 492and/or notification to emergency first responders; making otheradjustments 494 and/or the like.

As indicated by block 528, the home automation device may be instructedbased at least in part on the determined home automation rule via a homeautomation network. In some embodiments, the home automation device mayinclude a communication device and/or module that may be caused totransmit a user notification pursuant to the home automation rule. Thismay include sending an alert to a mobile device, such as a laptop, smartphone, and/or a tablet device. For instance, the alert may be indicativeof an alarm condition, an identifier(s) of the detector(s) sounding thealarm(s), location(s) of the detector(s), whether individuals aredetected in the location(s), a time when the alarm condition was firstdetected, one or more other adjustments that were system-initiatedautomatically in response to detecting the condition and/or one or moreother adjustments that could be made by the system pending userselection of user-selectable option(s) to instruct/confirm theadjustments, and/or the like. In another aspect, the alert may beprovided via a desktop webpage and/or a mobile webpage, email, textmessage, and/or channels of communication for relaying information fromthe home automation network with outside devices.

The method 500 may further include receiving user input via anapplication (e.g., a mobile application) for controlling one or moredevices, such as home automation devices in a home automation network.It is contemplated that the user may be located remotely and thereforepermitted to remotely control the home automation network and/or devicesvia the application. It is further contemplated that the user input maybe based, at least in part, on the determined user-selectable optionsthat are provided at the application to provide remote control (e.g.,adjust settings, clear the alarm, etc.). Based on the user input, themethod 500 may include instructing one or more devices with certainoperational settings via the home automation network.

In some embodiments, adjustments could be made according to anescalation scheme where initial notifications are made to a first set ofdevices, contact numbers, and/or linked accounts and one or moresubsequent notifications are made to different sets of devices, contactnumbers, and/or linked accounts after certain periods of time haveelapsed since the previous notifications without eliciting a userresponse when the alarm condition continues. A subsequent set ofnotifications may include repeatedly pushing notifications to at leastsome of the same devices, contact numbers, and/or linked accounts every15 minutes or at other time intervals. Further, having no user responseto notification(s) after certain periods of time have elapsed, anescalation scheme may provide for the system automatically takingmitigation actions such as: activating or deactivating a heating system482; activating or deactivating a cooling system 484; changing athermostat setting or other like threshold 486; activating ordeactivating another type of ventilation system 488, such as a fan, anattic fan, etc.; adjusting one or more air vents 490; and/or like. Suchmitigation actions may be implemented in a step-wise fashion accordingto a precedence order until the alarm condition is cleared.

In another example, the home automation rules may include rules thattrigger various devices to operate and/or respond to various conditions.Such rules may be user-defined and/or modified further via the mobileapplication. Merely by way of example, the home automation rules mayinclude the system automatically initiating mitigation actions alongwith user notifications when an individual is detected in the home orthe specific location, but only responding to an alarm condition with auser notification as an initial step if no individuals are detected inthe home or location of the alarm. Further, triggers may further includea minimum amount of time or duration for an alarm to sound beforeadjustments (which may include user notifications) are made. Otherexamples are possible.

Turning now to FIG. 6, an example block diagram for a computer system ordevice 600 upon which various features of the present disclosure may beprovided is shown. An example of a computer system or device includes anenterprise server, blade server, desktop computer, laptop computer,tablet computer, personal data assistant, smartphone, gaming console,STB, television receiver, and/or any other type of machine configuredfor performing calculations. Any particular one of thepreviously-described computing devices may be wholly or at leastpartially configured to exhibit features similar to the computer system600, such as any of the respective elements of the foregoing figures. Inthis manner, any of one or more of the respective elements of theforegoing figures may be configured to perform and/or includeinstructions that, when executed, perform the methods and featuresdisclosed above. Still further, any of one or more of the respectiveelements of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform and/orinclude instructions that, when executed, instantiate and implementfunctionality of the television receiver 150 and/or the server(s).

The computer system 600 is shown comprising hardware elements that maybe electrically coupled via a bus 602 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include aprocessing unit with one or more processors 604, including withoutlimitation one or more general-purpose processors and/or one or morespecial-purpose processors (such as digital signal processing chips,graphics acceleration processors, and/or the like); one or more inputdevices 615, which may include without limitation a remote control, amouse, a keyboard, and/or the like; and one or more output devices 620,which may include without limitation a presentation device (e.g.,television), a printer, and/or the like.

The computer system 600 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more non-transitory storage devices 610, which maycomprise, without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage,and/or may include, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, anoptical storage device, a solid-state storage device, such as a randomaccess memory, and/or a read-only memory, which may be programmable,flash-updateable, and/or the like. Such storage devices may beconfigured to implement any appropriate data stores, including withoutlimitation, various file systems, database structures, and/or the like.

The computer system 600 might also include a communications subsystem630, which may include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless and/or wired), an infrared communication device, a wirelesscommunication device and/or a chipset such as a Bluetooth™ device,802.11 device, WiFi device, WiMax device, cellular communicationfacilities such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), W-CDMA(Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution),etc., and/or the like. The communications subsystem 630 may permit datato be exchanged with a network (such as the network described below, toname one example), other computer systems, and/or any other devicesdescribed herein. In many embodiments, the computer system 600 willfurther comprise a working memory 635, which may include a random accessmemory and/or a read-only memory device, as described above.

The computer system 600 also may comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 635, including anoperating system 640, device drivers, executable libraries, and/or othercode, such as one or more application programs 645, which may comprisecomputer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may bedesigned to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein. By way of example, one or moreprocedures described with respect to the method(s) discussed above,and/or system components might be implemented as code and/orinstructions executable by a computer (and/or a processor within acomputer); in an aspect, then, such code and/or instructions may be usedto configure and/or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device)to perform one or more operations in accordance with the describedmethods.

A set of these instructions and/or code might be stored on anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as the storagedevice(s) 625 described above. In some cases, the storage medium mightbe incorporated within a computer system, such as computer system 600.In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from acomputer system (e.g., a removable medium, such as flash memory), and/orprovided in an installation package, such that the storage medium may beused to program, configure, and/or adapt a general purpose computer withthe instructions/code stored thereon. These instructions might take theform of executable code, which is executable by the computer device 600and/or might take the form of source and/or installable code, which,upon compilation and/or installation on the computer system 600 (e.g.,using any of a variety of generally available compilers, installationprograms, compression/decompression utilities, etc.), then takes theform of executable code.

It will be apparent that substantial variations may be made inaccordance with specific requirements. For example, customized hardwaremight also be used, and/or particular elements might be implemented inhardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.),or both. Further, connection to other computing devices such as networkinput/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system (such as the computer device 600) to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the disclosure. According to aset of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 600 in response to processor 610executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 640 and/or other code, such asan application program 645) contained in the working memory 635. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 635 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)625. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 635 may cause theprocessor(s) 610 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein.

The terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium,” asused herein, may refer to any non-transitory medium that participates inproviding data that causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion.In an embodiment implemented using the computer device 600, variouscomputer-readable media might be involved in providing instructions/codeto processor(s) 610 for execution and/or might be used to store and/orcarry such instructions/code. In many implementations, acomputer-readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium.Such a medium may take the form of a non-volatile media or volatilemedia. Non-volatile media may include, for example, optical and/ormagnetic disks, such as the storage device(s) 625. Volatile media mayinclude, without limitation, dynamic memory, such as the working memory635.

Example forms of physical and/or tangible computer-readable media mayinclude a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or anyother magnetic medium, a compact disc, any other optical medium, ROM,RAM, and etc., any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other mediumfrom which a computer may read instructions and/or code. Various formsof computer-readable media may be involved in carrying one or moresequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 610 forexecution. By way of example, the instructions may initially be carriedon a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer. A remotecomputer might load the instructions into its dynamic memory and sendthe instructions as signals over a transmission medium to be receivedand/or executed by the computer system 600.

The communications subsystem 630 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive signals, and the bus 605 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to theworking memory 635, from which the processor(s) 610 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 635 may optionally be stored on a non-transitory storage device625 either before or after execution by the processor(s) 610.

It should further be understood that the components of computer system600 can be distributed across a network. For example, some processingmay be performed in one location using a first processor while otherprocessing may be performed by another processor remote from the firstprocessor. Other components of computer system 600 may be similarlydistributed. As such, computer system 600 may be interpreted as adistributed computing system that performs processing in multiplelocations. In some instances, computer system 600 may be interpreted asa single computing device, such as a distinct laptop, desktop computer,or the like, depending on the context.

The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Variousconfigurations may omit, substitute, or add various method steps orprocedures, or system components as appropriate. For instance, inalternative configurations, the methods may be performed in an orderdifferent from that described, and/or various stages may be added,omitted, and/or combined. Also, features described with respect tocertain configurations may be combined in various other configurations.Different aspects and elements of the configurations may be combined ina similar manner. Also, technology evolves and, thus, many of theelements are examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure orclaims.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thoroughunderstanding of example configurations (including implementations).However, configurations may be practiced without these specific details.For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, andtechniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoidobscuring the configurations. This description provides exampleconfigurations only, and does not limit the scope, applicability, orconfigurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of theconfigurations will provide those of skill with an enabling descriptionfor implementing described techniques. Various changes may be made inthe function and arrangement of elements without departing from thespirit or scope of the disclosure.

Also, configurations may be described as a process which is depicted asa flow diagram or block diagram. Although each may describe theoperations as a sequential process, many of the operations may beperformed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of theoperations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps notincluded in the figure. Furthermore, examples of the methods may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode,hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the programcode or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage medium.Processors may perform the described tasks.

Furthermore, the example embodiments described herein may be implementedas logical operations in a computing device in a networked computingsystem environment. The logical operations may be implemented as: (i) asequence of computer implemented instructions, steps, or program modulesrunning on a computing device; and (ii) interconnected logic or hardwaremodules running within a computing device.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

Also, the terms in the claims have their plain, ordinary meaning unlessotherwise explicitly and clearly defined by the patentee. The indefinitearticles “a” or “an,” as used in the claims, are defined herein to meanone or more than one of the element that the particular articleintroduces; and subsequent use of the definite article “the” is notintended to negate that meaning. Furthermore, the use of ordinal numberterms, such as “first,” “second,” etc., to clarify different elements inthe claims is not intended to impart a particular position in a series,or any other sequential character or order, to the elements to which theordinal number terms have been applied.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for home automation control based atleast in part on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxidedetectors, the method comprising: receiving, by a control device, firstsensor data from a set of one or more audio sensors in operativecommunication with the control device; determining, by the controldevice, a first set of audio characteristics based at least in part onthe first sensor data; defining, by the control device, a first set ofattributes based at least in part on the first set of audiocharacteristics and storing the first set of attributes in associationwith a first identifier of a first detector located remotely from thecontrol device at a first location; receiving, by the control device,second sensor data from the set of one or more audio sensors;determining, by the control device, a second set of audiocharacteristics based at least in part on the second sensor data;defining, by the control device, a second set of attributes based atleast in part on the second set of audio characteristics and storing thesecond set of attributes in association with a second identifier of asecond detector located remotely from the control device at a secondlocation; receiving, by the control device, third sensor data from theset of one or more audio sensors; analyzing, by the control device, thethird sensor data to identify a first alarm of the first detector or asecond alarm of the second detector based at least in part on a volumeand/or a directionality determined based at least in part on the thirdsensor data; consequent to identifying the first alarm of the firstdetector or the second alarm of the second detector, determining, by thecontrol device, a home automation rule, wherein the home automation ruleincludes an operational setting of a home automation device; andinstructing, by the control device, the home automation device based atleast in part on the determined home automation rule via a homeautomation network.
 2. The method for home automation control based atleast in part on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxidedetectors of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the controldevice, an adjustment based at least in part on the determined homeautomation rule; wherein the instructing the home automation devicecomprises causing, by the control device, the adjustment.
 3. The methodfor home automation control based at least in part on individualizedaudio differentiation of carbon monoxide detectors of claim 1, furthercomprising: causing, by the control device, transmission of a usernotification to indicate an alarm condition via one or more notificationinterfaces.
 4. The method for home automation control based at least inpart on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxidedetectors of claim 3, further comprising: processing, by the controldevice, indicia of one or more user selections corresponding to one ormore user-selection options; wherein the instructing the home automationdevice comprises causing, by the control device, an adjustment based inpart on the one or more user selections.
 5. The method for homeautomation control based at least in part on individualized audiodifferentiation of carbon monoxide detectors of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, by the control device, fourth sensor data from asecond set of one or more sensors; and determining, by the controldevice, a presence of one or more individuals based at least in part onthe fourth sensor data; wherein the determining the home automation ruleis based at least in part on the determined presence of the one or moreindividuals.
 6. The method for home automation control based at least inpart on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxidedetectors of claim 1, wherein the set of one or more audio sensorscomprises two or more audio sensors.
 7. The method for home automationcontrol based at least in part on individualized audio differentiationof carbon monoxide detectors of claim 6, wherein the control devicecomprises the two or more audio sensors.
 8. A system for home automationcontrol based at least in part on individualized audio differentiationof carbon monoxide detectors, the system comprising: a control deviceconfigured to communicatively couple to a set of one or more audiosensors, the control device comprising: one or more processors; and amemory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or moreprocessors and having stored therein processor-readable instructionswhich, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one ormore processors to perform: processing first sensor data from the set ofone or more audio sensors in operative communication with the controldevice; determining a first set of audio characteristics based at leastin part on the first sensor data; defining a first set of attributesbased at least in part on the first set of audio characteristics andstoring the first set of attributes in association with a firstidentifier of a first detector located remotely from the control deviceat a first location; processing second sensor data from the set of oneor more audio sensors; determining a second set of audio characteristicsbased at least in part on the second sensor data; defining a second setof attributes based at least in part on the second set of audiocharacteristics and storing the second set of attributes in associationwith a second identifier of a second detector located remotely from thecontrol device at a second location; processing third sensor data fromthe set of one or more audio sensors; analyzing the third sensor data toidentify a first alarm of the first detector or a second alarm of thesecond detector based at least in part on a volume and/or adirectionality determined based at least in part on the third sensordata; consequent to identifying the first alarm of the first detector orthe second alarm of the second detector, determining a home automationrule, wherein the home automation rule includes an operational settingof a home automation device; and instructing the home automation devicebased at least in part on the determined home automation rule via a homeautomation network.
 9. The system for home automation control based atleast in part on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxidedetectors of claim 8, the control device to further: determine anadjustment based at least in part on the determined home automationrule; wherein the instructing the home automation device comprisescausing, by the control device, the adjustment.
 10. The system for homeautomation control based at least in part on individualized audiodifferentiation of carbon monoxide detectors of claim 8, the controldevice to further: cause transmission of a user notification to indicatean alarm condition via one or more notification interfaces.
 11. Thesystem for home automation control based at least in part onindividualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxide detectors ofclaim 10, the control device to further: processing, by the controldevice, indicia of one or more user selections corresponding to one ormore user-selection options; wherein the instructing the home automationdevice comprises causing, by the control device, an adjustment based inpart on the one or more user selections.
 12. The system for homeautomation control based at least in part on individualized audiodifferentiation of carbon monoxide detectors of claim 8, the controldevice to further: process fourth sensor data from a second set of oneor more sensors; and determine a presence of one or more individualsbased at least in part on the fourth sensor data; wherein thedetermining the home automation rule is based at least in part on thedetermined presence of the one or more individuals.
 13. The system forhome automation control based at least in part on individualized audiodifferentiation of carbon monoxide detectors of claim 8, wherein the setof one or more audio sensors comprises two or more audio sensors. 14.The system for home automation control based at least in part onindividualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxide detectors ofclaim 13, wherein the control device comprises the two or more audiosensors.
 15. One or more non-transitory, machine-readable media havingmachine-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by one ormore processing devices, facilitates home automation control based atleast in part on individualized audio differentiation of carbon monoxidedetectors, causing the one or more processing devices to perform:processing first sensor data from a set of one or more audio sensors inoperative communication with the control device; determining a first setof audio characteristics based at least in part on the first sensordata; defining a first set of attributes based at least in part on thefirst set of audio characteristics and storing the first set ofattributes in association with a first identifier of a first detectorlocated remotely from the control device at a first location; processingsecond sensor data from the set of one or more audio sensors;determining a second set of audio characteristics based at least in parton the second sensor data; defining a second set of attributes based atleast in part on the second set of audio characteristics and storing thesecond set of attributes in association with a second identifier of asecond detector located remotely from the control device at a secondlocation; processing third sensor data from the set of one or more audiosensors; analyzing the third sensor data to identify a first alarm ofthe first detector or a second alarm of the second detector based atleast in part on a volume and/or a directionality determined based atleast in part on the third sensor data; consequent to identifying thefirst alarm of the first detector or the second alarm of the seconddetector, determining a home automation rule, wherein the homeautomation rule includes an operational setting of a home automationdevice; and instructing the home automation device based at least inpart on the determined home automation rule via a home automationnetwork.
 16. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media ofclaim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessing devices to: determine an adjustment based at least in part onthe determined home automation rule; wherein the instructing the homeautomation device comprises causing, by the control device, theadjustment.
 17. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable mediaof claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessing devices to: cause transmission of a user notification toindicate an alarm condition via one or more notification interfaces. 18.The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media of claim 17,wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processingdevices to: processing, by the control device, indicia of one or moreuser selections corresponding to one or more user-selection options;wherein the instructing the home automation device comprises causing, bythe control device, an adjustment based in part on the one or more userselections.
 19. The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable mediaof claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessing devices to: process fourth sensor data from a second set ofone or more sensors; and determine a presence of one or more individualsbased at least in part on the fourth sensor data; wherein thedetermining the home automation rule is based at least in part on thedetermined presence of the one or more individuals.
 20. The one or morenon-transitory, machine-readable media of claim 15, wherein the set ofone or more audio sensors comprises two or more audio sensors.